Ashes to Dust
by PharaohsThrone
Summary: Beacon has created many great Hunstman and Huntresses over time, but never has it seen a cohort like this. Among the many students starting this year are a handful of faunus, criminals in hiding, and teenagers trying to find their way. Two students in particular though, Yusei and Atem, are going to find it to be the most life changing and crazy year of their lives. Synchroshipping
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Greenery stretched on for miles, covering the far reaches of land at the edge of Beacon, what was commonly known as the Emerald Forest. Shadows were cast over the forest floor, as trees loomed up in all directions, and the shrubbery beneath fought for the little sunlight they could reach. A slight breeze swayed the taller foliage, as birds settled on their branches, and all that could be heard was the whistle of the feathered creatures, and the rustle created by their movements.

Despite the peaceful scenery though, the Emerald Forest wasn't a place to go for a casual stroll. Deep within it's green confines, roamed the creatures of Grimm, waiting for someone to take as prey. These creatures were not to be underestimated, either; they dwarfed the average person, and would wipe out the entire human race if they could.

No matter how terrifying they may seem though, there were always those who sought after these beasts, their aim to annihilate any threat they caused to humans. But before they could become the undisputed slayers of these monsters, those wishing to join the hoard, had to go to school. So where would initiation be held for these aspiring Huntsmen and Huntresses? The Emerald Forest.

It was above the towering trees and wildlife that one teen found himself that morning, only seconds after initiation began. He was flying through the air, of course.

He cheered in delight, spreading his arms wide as the wind blew past, causing his bangs to fly around his face in all directions. He'd been looking forward to this ever since he arrived at Beacon yesterday, but now that he was here, he couldn't do anything less than grin. "Alright, let's give these babies a try..."

He still had a considerable amount of time before his descend would lead him into the path of the foliage, but he wanted to test out something he'd been working on for quite some time. Kicking his heels together, his boots automatically responded with a click. _In 3, 2, 1..._

Just as he had expected, the small device in the back of his boots had set off, sending the teen hurtling forwards at a blinding pace. He could only grin wider in glee, out of all the times his testing had failed, they finally worked! And it couldn't have been better timing, as he maneuvered himself over the trees, feeling the cold air rush past his face.

"I love this place!" he beamed, watching as the trees moved past under his feet.

Momentarily, his speed slowed down dramatically, matching with the sound that his boots suddenly made, not unlike a car breaking down. He cursed, realising he had celebrated too soon, and all he could do was flap his arms and howl in panic as he began to fall towards the foliage. Tree branches scraped across his face and arms as he plummeted through the canopy, before his descent was brought to an abrupt stop as he hit a thick branch with a grunt. Letting out a groan, he moved into a sitting position, wishing he had planned a different kind of landing.

"I take it back, I hate this place," he muttered.

Meanwhile, another figure was making his way through the trees, having planned his landing perfectly. The steel contraption encasing his forearm had many uses, but at the moment, he was using the wire shot from it to swing from the trees, and gracefully plant his feet on the forest floor. After retracting his wire, the teen set his multi-functional weapon back to it's default position-so that it looked like a slightly bulky arm guard. He was quite the skilled engineer when it came to mechanics, and had built many things in his spare time in the hopes for creating the perfect weapon, but none had satisfied him. That is, until he'd gotten this idea from a swiss army knife.

With a sigh, the teen looked around at his surroundings. All of the new students starting at Beacon were now scattered around this forest, and they had been told before their launch that the first person they made eye contact with would be their partner for the next four years.

The idea sent an unwelcome swell of nausea through the teen's gut. _Let's just hope I find a good partner. _

He set off in the hopes to run into someone, all while keeping his wits about his surroundings. Any minute, a Grimm could pounce on him, and he had to keep his guard up. As he moved through the shrubbery, his hearing kicked in, and the teen caught the sound of...was that someone screaming?

Perhaps not everyone was used to being in the air. The teen continued to listen, registering the violent rustling of tree branches, followed by a loud thud. He could hear the birds fleeing from nearby trees at the commotion, and a curse echoed through the surrounding area. _Maybe I should see if they're alright, _he thought. _But then again, do I really want a screaming maniac to be my partner? _

The teen moved towards the sound none the less, though partly hoping he ran into someone else on the way.

The man in the tree was beyond disappointed. He'd worked on these boots for months, and still couldn't figure out why they weren't working. He'd hoped he could start at Beacon with some sweet kicks, but apparently not. He stood up on the branch and attempted to dust himself off, before glaring down at said boots.

"Why won't you work?!" He complained, kicking the trunk in annoyance. That's when he heard a click. "Oh, no you do-"

The teen had no chance to finish his sentence, as he had been flung forwards once more, the boots kicking in with the impact to the tree. All he could do was wail in protest as he shot off of the branch, before smacking into another tree nearby, and spiraling to the ground. He groaned in complaint at yet another harsh impact thanks to his boots, cursing once again.

"Not quite got the hang of landing yet?"

Startled, the teen looked up, to see a man approaching him, sporting dark hair and striking blue eyes. He looked down at the student sprawled on the ground with amusement, and the latter deflated.

"You saw that?" he asked, pulling himself into a sitting position, rubbing his head. The man nodded, and he sighed dramatically, "And you're so pretty, too." The man just stared at him for a moment, before letting out a laugh in response, unable to think of anything to say; nobody had called him _that_ before. Luckily, he didn't have time to dwell on it, for the student on the ground spoke up again. "So, I guess we're partners, then."

"Looks like it," he replied, extending his hand to the man on the ground, "The name's Yusei."

The teen accepted his hand, and after he was pulled to his feet, replied, "Screaming idiot, nice to meet you." Yusei chuckled at the response, and it made the other teen smile, "Call me Atem."

"Alright. Though Screaming Idiot did sound quite accurate," Yusei replied, before taking a moment to examine Atem's attire, noting the two swords sticking up over his shoulders. _A dual wielder...? _He then noticed the vest that was holding them in place. "...Are you wearing anything under that?" he suddenly asked, noticing how low it was zipped, revealing a decent amount of cleavage.

Atem looked down at his chest for a moment, "Should I be?" Yusei simply stared for a moment, before turning to head in the direction he guessed the temple would be in. Atem assumed his comment was brought on by the fact that he was basically covered head-to-toe. The only skin Atem could see on the other man was his face and fingertips. Perhaps he wasn't so used to the cooler weather here. Atem shrugged, before moving to follow his new partner. Just as he caught up, he caught the sentence that Yusei was muttering.

"I hope I don't regret this..."

Atem jumped up beside the teen, catching him by surprise. "Of course you won't, I'm stunningly attractive." Yusei was only slightly startled by the man now at his side, but he was more surprised at the guy's words. He gave Atem a sidewards glance, raising his eyebrows in the process. "Not that you aren't," Atem then added, "I've got no complaints there-"

Yusei suddenly held his hand up, "Shh."

Atem blinked at him, "What?" Yusei shushed him once more, as his ears focused on the sound he had heard a moment ago.

"Do you hear that?" he asked.

Atem looked around them for a moment, before looking back at his partner, "Hear what?" He watched Yusei, who's eyes were scanning the nearby bushes, and the look on the man's face made Atem reach for his swords.

Suddenly, a fierce growl tore through the trees, and Yusei activated his arm guard, "There!"

There was barely any time for Atem to react as a Beowolf burst out of the bushes, snarling as it lunged at the pair. Yusei sprung out of the way, while Atem raised his swords, challenging the beast. The wolf charged at Atem, and when they clashed, his swords were pressed against the bone protruding from it's arm, as it tried to swipe at him. He had stopped the attempted attack, but now it was a battle of strength, as he pushed against the beast, earning a growl in return. It then overpowered Atem, and he stumbled backwards, just as Yusei swung in from behind, before slicing at it with the blade that now protruded from the side of his arm guard. Atem then charged at the beast once more, now that it was distracted by Yusei's attack. It turned to swipe at him, and he ducked out of the way, before lunging at it, driving his sword into its flesh. It let out a loud shriek, and as Atem tried to pull his sword out, discovering it was stuck, he noticed the wolf bare it's fangs in an attempt to chomp at him. Panic flared in the teen's gut as he realised he didn't have the time to escape, and in an attempt to block the wolf, he raised his other sword above his head.

But there was no impact. Bewildered, Atem stared as the beast fell to the ground, head no longer attached to its body. He then looked to Yusei, who was shaking the blood off of his blade. _How did...? _Atem was baffled. He was sure that Yusei had been coming up behind the beast to try and strike it's legs, so how could he have beheaded the thing so easily? He was nowhere near close enough to get to it before it would have chomped Atem to pieces.

Yusei moved over and pulled Atem's sword from the beast, before holding it out to him, "You alright?"

Atem started at him, "...Yeah, but, how did you do that?" He then grabbed his sword in hand, as Yusei shrugged.

"I'm uh, fast," he replied, turning to keep moving.

Atem slid his swords back into his jacket, before moving to catch up with the teen. "So, speed is your semblance?" he asked.

Yusei didn't turn to look at him as he replied, "Uh, yeah you could say that." He then moved to change the subject, "We'd better hurry, we are getting observed, you know."

"Right." Atem was satisfied with Yusei's answer for the time being, as they picked up their pace. "We're meant to find these so called relics."

Only thing was, they had no idea what the relics looked like, nor what the abandoned temple was supposed to look like. It took them fifteen minutes to discover that they were possibly going in the wrong direction, as fighting the Beowolf had put them off. Yusei decided to climb a tree to try and see if he could spot the temple, while Atem waited at the bottom. He'd had enough time off of the ground for one day.

"I see it!" the optimistic call came from above him, and Atem looked up in surprise, only seeing the slight patch of blue through the branches; Yusei's jacket. So not only was he fast on the ground, he was a fast climber, as well. Though, if it was his semblance, then that did make sense.

"Are you sure?" Atem called back, "What does it look like?"

A matter of seconds later, and Yusei was dropping back to the ground next to Atem, and the teen blinked at him. It was probably going to take him a while to get used to this. Yusei seemed incredibly agile for his...stature. The guy stood taller than Atem, with broad shoulders, but a slim waist. Not that Atem was incredibly short, though his hair helped in make him appear taller. It seemed that was the case for Yusei as well, he thought, noting the spikes that stuck up above the other's head, some streaked with yellow.

Yusei brushed the leaves out of his hair, "Looks like an abandoned temple," he said, "About two hundred meters that way." Pointing in the direction they needed to go, Yusei looked back to Atem. The shorter male chuckled, causing him to raise his eyebrows.

"You missed one," Atem said, nodding his head at Yusei's hair.

"Hm?" he began to run his hand through dark locks in search of the stray leaf, and Atem shook his head.

"No, no, in your fringe," Atem tried to explain, though his partner was completely useless at retrieving the item. Atem sighed, "Here." Reaching up, he combed his hand through Yusei's fringe, freeing the leaf, and brushing his forehead in the process. The move startled Yusei, and he stepped back for a moment, causing Atem to withdraw his hand swiftly. "Uh, sorry," he said, ducking his eyes to the side. He probably shouldn't have just reached out like that, considering he didn't know the kind of person Yusei really was yet. Despite the way Yusei composed himself once more, Atem had still seen the discomfort cross the other's face.

"No, it's fine," Yusei replied, turning in the direction they needed to head, "Just, caught me by surprise is all."

Atem stayed quiet as he began to follow Yusei again, before deciding that a good joke was in order. He jogged to catch up to Yusei, his usual grin returning, "It's because I'm gorgeous, isn't it?"

Yusei almost stopped in his tracks, "What?" The way that Atem's mannerisms changed so quickly were catching him off guard so easily. How he was going to keep up, the guy did not know.

The shorter male laughed, "I'm just kidding, come on, we don't want to run into any more Grimm." He turned and began to lead them forwards, though not before noticing the colour that had filled Yusei's cheeks. Atem smirked to himself as he walked, this was going to be fun. It only made him wonder who they would end up with on their team.

After swiftly making their way through the forest, Atem and Yusei broke into the clearing, noticing the stone structure sitting in the middle. There were numerous stone pedestals placed around the temple, each holding the 'relics'. Atem eyed the temple, noting how there were a few pedestals who no longer held an object.

"Are they-?" He had no chance to finish his sentence however, as a hiss tore through the clearing. The two teens spun around just as a King Taijitu burst out of the bushes, with a wailing boy attached to it. Yusei and Atem stared as the creature slithered along, with a chain wrapped around its middle, and the boy's ankle, effectively dragging him around.

"Help!" he cried, seeing the pair standing in the clearing. Atem and Yusei darted out of the way as the snake like creature tried to strike at them, and Yusei activated his arm guard, as the curved blade slid into place. Atem ran around to the opposite head as Yusei fought the dark end, and the boy was furiously trying to untangle himself from the chain, that seemed to have a blade at either end. He was in the process of pulling one of the blades towards him, when he was flung around once more by the Taijitu and he lost grip, having to start again. The Lighter coloured head of the creature wasn't very happy at all though, as it bared it fangs at him. Swords in hand, Atem leapt forwards, slicing at it's head to keep its attention away from it's third limb.

"Crow!" a female voice suddenly called out, as a girl burst from the trees, wielding a bow in one hand. Seeing the two unfamiliar faces fighting each head of the Grimm, she ran over to her partner, who was still flailing on the ground as he was dragged around by the Taijitu. All Atem could hear were rapid apologies flowing out of her mouth as he was thrown backwards by a slash from the creature, rolling on the ground, before springing to his feet again. The Taijiti had just been distracted by the newcomer, so Atem took his chance to take one last slash at the creature. Charing at the Taijitu, Atem flung one of his swords at it, as it sunk into the flesh of an eye, and it let out a piercing shriek, before slashing his other sword down on the creature's head, driving it into the ground with incredible force. He was then on his feet once more, darting over to the boy as Yusei kept the other head busy, and Atem turned his sword so that he was holding it upside down, before bringing the handle down on the chain, breaking it in half so that the boy could get away. A moment later and the other head fell to the ground, as Yusei dispatched it appropriately.

The four teens all stared at the dead creature before them, all catching their breath, before the two pairs looked at one another. The red haired boy then retrieved his bow from the girl, as Atem noticed the arrows strapped to his back. "Uh, thanks," he said to the pair, as they placed their weapons away.

"Not a problem," Atem replied, stepping over the chain that he'd broke in half, "I'm Atem, and this is Yusei," he nodded his head over at his partner, who was eyeing the broken metal object he'd just walked over.

"Crow," the other teen replied, while his partner retrieved her chain from the King Taijitu.

"I'm Aki!" she said, finally wrenching it free, before walking over to join them once more. She looked down at her weapon, now broken in half, before looking to Atem.

He gave her an apologetic look, scratching the back of his neck, "Sorry."

She shook her head, "It's fine. It was my fault that Crow got tangled up in the first place. If you don't mind me asking, how did you break my chain scythe?"

Atem grinned then, looking down at his work, "I'm just an incredibly strong individual."

Crow snorted, "I hope that was sarcasm."

Yusei was standing beside Atem with his arms crossed, and he sent an amused glance over to his partner, "Half the time, it isn't."

Atem raised his eyebrows, turning on Yusei with a mock look of hurt, "It's only been half an hour and you're already making such bold statements. I could be a serial killer for all you know." Yusei then suddenly made a spluttering noise, as if Atem's words had startled him-or he was choking on his own saliva, you never know-and he tried to recover himself quickly, though not before Atem had noticed the look of surprise on his face. "Are you a serial killer?" he then asked.

"No!" Yusei countered, "But unless you've forgotten, we're being monitored, and better get moving." He turned and walked towards the temple, as Atem moved to follow; he'd been doing a lot of that today.

"Always reminding us of the job at hand," Atem said as they stepped onto the stone. "You must be a task oriented person." Yusei didn't bother with a response, as they took a closer look at what the relics actually were. _Playing cards? _Atem thought, walking over to one of the pedestals. Well, they weren't the usual flimsy bits of card, they were made out of a porous kind of stone.

"Some pairs have already been here," Yusei noted, seeing the empty spaces, "Let's just grab one and go." Atem eyed down the different cards, before reaching for the Ace of Spades.

"Yoink!" Crow was suddenly in front of him, grabbing the card before Atem could reach it, and he darted away in an instant, leaving Atem blinking at the space in front of him. So instead, he picked the card beside it, wondering why the red head had been so in favor of that particular card.

"Right," he said, pocketing the card and turning back to Yusei, "Ready to head back up to the cliff?" Yusei nodded. "Alright Emerald Forest," Atem said, turning towards the shrubbery once more, "Bring it on."

There was a sigh to his left, as Yusei began to walk back toward the trees, "You need to stop being so dramatic."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The assembly hall sat as the center point for Beacon, with all of the class and dorm rooms surrounding the well-built structure. It was by far the largest location at the school, and certainly the grandest. There were marble pillars lining the sides, leading up to a stage that overlooked a large amphitheater, able to seat up to 400 guests. Most of these seats were filled, as the annual induction ceremony was held for the new students. After initiation, this ceremony would be held in front of the entire school, as the headmaster would appoint teams and their leaders.

The headmaster himself was professor Dartz. Although there was a lot of speculation on the man's decisions in the past-most of which were simply rumors around the school-he was an incredibly wise man, who had never lead the students astray. By his side, stood Ms Mazaki, one of the most skilled Huntresses in all of Vale. Though on the outside she came across as a harsh woman, she had her reasoning, and her number one priority were her students' well being.

Atem and Yusei were standing with the rest of their cohort side stage, waiting for their names to be called. A lot of the teams had been formed already, and they were the last of a few remaining students, which was worrying Atem. He did have high hopes though, considering Crow and Aki had not been called yet; perhaps those two would make a good team with he and Yusei. As the next team was called to the stage, Atem looked at the remaining students, and noticed something was off. _There are only six of us...? _

"Crow Hogan and Aki Izayoi," Dartz then announced, and the pair made their way onto the stage. "You two picked the Ace of Spades. That means your team mates shall be the pair who chose the Ace of Clubs; Jack Atlas and Kyosuke Kiryu." Atem could see Yusei's confusion as well, as now they were the only two left side stage. Did they not have a team? "You shall be team J.A.C.K., lead by Jack Atlas." There was an applause, as the newly formed team left the stage, and Atem and Yusei were left blinking at one another.

"Yusei Fudo and Atem Muran," Dartz then announced, and the pair slowly made their way to the stage. Yusei tried not to look at how many people there actually were out there, as he felt nauseous enough as it was. "You two chose the Queen of Hearts. As this cohort has just fallen short of 60 students, we are unable to form 15 complete teams, and as the Queen of Diamonds was left untouched, you two shall be your own team, lead by Atem Muran. As for your name...we'll leave that up to you." He then turned back to the audience-the rest of the school-as Yusei and Atem swiftly left the stage. "I'd like you all to give our first year students a warm welcome!"

The applause that rang out through the auditorium was barely heard by Atem as they joined the rest of their cohort on the other side of the stage. He'd never heard of their cohort being short on students. Well, he'd never thought of the possibility that there wouldn't be an adequate number to make all complete teams of four. That didn't put them at a disadvantage though, did it?

After the rest of the school had cleared out, Ms Mazaki assigned each team their lockers and dorm rooms, and the students were free to settle in for the rest of the afternoon. As well as everything seemed to be going though, Atem wasn't quite content with the induction ceremony, and as they left the hall, as soon as he spied Professor Dartz, he was moving after the man. Yusei blinked as his partner swiftly walked in the other direction without so much as a word, before he moved to follow silently. Yusei caught up just as Atem had began talking to the headmaster.

"I just wanted to know why you picked me as team leader," he was saying, "I'm not a leader in any form of the word." Yusei stood just behind his partner, not wanting to intrude, but still able to hear the conversation.

"And what makes you think that?" Dartz asked him.

Atem seemed baffled, "Well, for starters, Yusei was the one who was pushing us forward the whole time in the forest, that's the only reason we made it to the temple at all. And he's obviously the better fighter, if you didn't see that I almost got decapitated."

"While that may be true," Dartz answered, "Your partner showed too much hesitation in the forest," he glanced up at Yusei for a moment, who simply stared back at the headmaster. Atem was even more confused, for he hadn't seen Yusei hesitate once. Or had he not been paying attention? "A leader needs to be confident, and assurance is a strong quality of yours, which will benefit your team dynamic greatly. Don't get me wrong though, you're both very talented and have your own brilliant qualities; I think you'll work together quite well. I just don't think you should rule yourself out so quickly. Either way, there's a lot you could learn from each other. Give it time, and you'll see what I mean, but for now, perhaps you should focus on settling in." With a nod towards Yusei, Dartz turned and headed back down the hall, leaving Atem blinking behind him.

"You think I'm the better fighter?" Yusei suddenly asked, causing Atem to spin around.

"Well, yeah," he replied, walking back over, "You saved my ass back there."

Yusei was already heading towards the dorm rooms, "That's what team mates do. Need I remind you that it takes incredible skill to be a dual wielder?"

Atem was muttering to himself as he followed behind, "More like incredible idiocy."

Yusei hummed in question, turning his head to look over his shoulder, and Atem waved his hand dismissively while shaking his head. "Just something my Dad used to say, don't worry." Yusei eyed him for a moment, before shrugging and continuing their course to the living quarters. He still wasn't quite sure what to think of his new partner, but so far, it seemed they could work together, and that was all he needed.

...

Just over an hour later, and the two were settling into their room. There were two bunk beds, and both teens had chosen the bottom to sleep on. At least they didn't have to fight over sleeping arrangements with two other people. Actually, having only one room mate made Yusei feel slightly more at ease. He wasn't sure how he would deal with living in such close quarters with three other people. One though, he could handle, especially when said individual was one to spend most of the afternoon napping.

"Weren't you unpacking?" Yusei asked the teen who was sprawled out on his bed. All of Atem's belonging were strewn across the top bunk, so as to not cause a mess on the floor, but he hadn't managed to really unpack any further than that. Yusei however, had almost filled up the bookshelf in the corner, and half the dresser on his side of the room.

Atem, lying face down on the bed, lazily waved a hand at his room mate, before mumbling, "I'm getting there."

A slight chuckle sounded from Yusei, before he began to assess the school uniform he'd been given. He was quite happy with the outfit, actually, and after letting out a grateful sigh, he placed it with the rest of his clothes. Atem simply stayed in his position on the bed, until he heard footsteps approach the door, which was sitting open.

"Hey, look who it is!" Crow asserted as he leaned against the door frame, "We're right across the hall from you guys."

Atem rolled over so that he was lying on his back, and he placed his arms underneath his head. "Nice," he replied. "Good to know we have friendly neighbors."

Yusei nodded his head to the side wall, "I don't know about those guys though," he said, receiving questioning looks from the other two males. "Can't you hear them?" he asked. Ever sine they'd arrived, the team next door had been arguing about their bunks. "Never mind," he set back to sorting out the rest of his clothes, and Crow's eyes caught sight of the boots sitting beside Atem's bed.

He nodded his head at them, "Those look dangerous," he joked, "What have you got hiding in the bottom?" Crow had noticed the metal encasing the heel, obviously housing something, and Atem leaned to look over the edge of the bed at his boots.

"Ha," he lifted one of them up to show him the back, where the hatch opened. "I tried to put boosters in the heel, but when I tested them out this morning, I ended up crash landing into the trees."

Yusei looked up, as he closed one of the drawers. "Is that why you fell through the canopy?" an amused smile sat on his face, and this new information was entertaining Crow greatly.

Atem nodded, "And thus you became team mates with the screaming idiot," he finished, placing the boot back on the floor. Yusei laughed, moving to sit down on his own bed, as Atem pulled out one of his swords to admire, "I think I'll stick to the conventional stuff, though."

With the introduction of weapons, Crow turned to the other teen in the room, "What _is_ your weapon, Yusei? I couldn't really see much while being dragged around by that King Taijitu." The man in question raised his right arm where the silver contraption sat, as he activated the blade, and it slid out of place. Crow raised his eyebrows, "Nice. What's that on your other hand, then?"

Crow had pointed to Yusei's left hand, which had a mechanic skeletal structure over his glove, attached to a metal brace at his wrist. "This is how I control it. Like if I do this," he bent one of his fingers in a very particular way, and the blade popped out. "I get the blade, and if I do this," he then moved another finger, and a smaller set of blades popped out, like shark teeth along his arm, "I get these ones. Also gives me a mean left hook," he joked. Atem made note not to ever get Yusei angry, as being punched by a guy wearing metal bars on his hand was not something he wanted to experience.

Crow blinked at him, "That is so cool," he said, "But how _does _that control it? It's completely separate."

"Wireless signal," Yusei explained, tapping where the transmitter was concealed in the wrist brace. "The only thing that could disrupt this thing is if it were blown to bits." He then slid the blades back into place, "It's also a grappling hook and wire, and has a few other blades in it. I'm still working on making it better, though." He looked up at the teen standing in the doorway, "What about you? What's your weapon?" Crow held a finger up, before disappearing into his own room. A second later, he returned, grasping a bow in his hand. Of course, Yusei remembered, Aki had been holding it when she ran into the clearing, but Crow had taken it from her after the fight.

"A bow and arrows?" Atem asked, raising an eyebrow, "Isn't that a little...ancient?"

"Wait for it," Crow grinned, pulling out an arrow, and pointing it out the window. Atem and Yusei both moved so that they could see its path, and Crow shot it at a tree outside. As soon as it hit its target, bark exploded from the trunk and showered the footpath below. There was a decent indentation left on the tree afterwards. "Exploding arrows!" Crow grinned as he looked between the two teens, who gave him nods of approval.

"I still don't see its practicality though," Atem then argued, "You'd have to go through so many arrows. What if you ran out?"

Crow wasn't done yet though, "But it's not the actual arrow that explodes. Just the tip does, and the arrows are designed to withstand the blast." He then pulled a small lever on his bow, and Atem noticed the arrow still stuck in the tree had a small green light on the end of it, before it burst back through the window and back into the holder on Crows back.

"Okay," Atem said in finality, turning to Yusei, "That's pretty cool." His team mate simply nodded, before joining in with his own argument.

"What if you didn't want to blast your opponent to oblivion?" Yusei asked.

Crow was prepared for this question also, "Easy. I don't just have exploding arrows. I've got stunning arrows as well. I'm also thinking of trying to make some other kinds."

Then, there was a female voice from outside the door, "What if you just wanted to grab their attention?" The three teens turned as Aki approached behind her partner, and Crow gave her an incredulous look. Yusei had stood up once more to fill the small set of drawers beside his bed.

"Then I wouldn't shoot an arrow at them!" he replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Aki just laughed, joining him in the doorway, as she reassured him it was simply a joke. Crow then turned to the two teens in the room, "Settling in alright?"

Atem nodded, "This place seems pretty cool. But the rooms don't quite feel..." he moved his hands in a manner that showed he was trying to think of a specific word. "Like home," he finished. Yusei suddenly paused from what he was doing, before fumbling with the object in his hands, and dropping it into the draw. Atem noticed this, but decided not to voice his concern while Aki and Crow were in the room. Instead, he thought for a moment, before the teen's face lit up. "Oh, I know!" Aki and Crow watched on in amusement as Atem climbed up to the top bunk, throwing his belongings around in search of something. Finally, he jumped down, a grin on his face, and an object in his hands. "Do you like games, Yusei?" he asked.

The man in question nodded, eyeing the object in Atem's hands. "Sure I do."

"Perfect!" Atem all but slammed the gaming console down on the ground, glad that each room had a holographic TV box installed. "Who wants to play?" Crow practically bounded into the room, announcing his interest, before grabbing one of the four controllers attached to the console. Atem grinned, before grabbing a second one and holding it out to Yusei. "Come on," he said, "You've done enough for today, have some fun." Yusei looked at the controller for a moment, before letting out a sigh, followed by a smile.

"Yeah, alright," he agreed, taking it from Atem, before the three of them turned to the girl still by the door.

"Do you want a game, Aki?" Atem asked her, "There's a controller with your name on it." He nodded to the last one, a hopeful smile on his face.

She took a step into the room hesitantly, "I haven't really played any video games before," she admitted.

"Doesn't matter," Crow said, throwing the last controller to her, "You'll catch on pretty quickly."

After a brief game of scissors paper rock to decide what game they should play, the four teens all sat around the holo-tv, coaching Aki along and enjoying each other's company. Yusei sat up on his bed, enjoying the game, but still staying fairly silent during the whole ordeal. Atem had gotten the impression that the guy wasn't all too sociable in large groups, but the slight smile he held said that he was enjoying himself, which was enough for Atem.

After an hour or so, they were alerted to the fact that it was dinner time. Despite how heavily invested they had gotten in their game, they put it aside and all trudged over to the eating hall. If the food they had been served so far in Beacon was anything to go off of, they were going to have some damn good meals. Entering the hall, Crow soon caught sight of Jack, who waved at them, and Aki encouraged Atem and Yusei to sit with them and meet their team mates. When they made their way over, Kiryu raised his eyebrows, and Crow quickly jumped into introductions.

"Jack, Kiryu, this is Atem and Yusei, their room is right across from us." Atem waved, Yusei nodded, and Jack casually folded his arms.

"So you're the two man team," he said curiously, "Don't you think that would give you guys a disadvantage?"

Atem shrugged, "I'm not sure, but I'm just glad I didn't have to fight over the bottom bunk," he joked. Yusei chuckled as Aki let out a laugh, and Crow smiled.

Kiryu nodded, "I was unfortunate enough to lose that battle," he sent a glare to his partner, and Jack simply laughed, glad that he had been triumphant in their game of paper scissors rock.

The group of six sat and chatted as they ate, wondering what their first day of classes would bring. Yusei wasn't all too interested in the conversation, as his eyes scanned the room for any faces he might know. It was highly doubtful, but it still made him feel more at ease. As much as meeting new people made him nervous, seeing someone he already knew would make him feel worse.

About half way through the meal, another team walked past their table that Atem somewhat recognised from the induction ceremony.

"Hey look, it's the team of two," The one with dark red hair sneered, stopping by their table. "Ready to get your butts kicked in the annual tournament?"

That's something that hadn't crossed either of their minds, and would indeed put them at a disadvantage. Not wanting to answer the question, Atem turned to the four people standing by their table, "And you are?"

"Allister," he announced proudly, before indicating the three people next to him, "And this is my team." There was suddenly a loud cough behind him, where the tallest of the group stood. He recoiled ever so slightly, "...uh, Rafael's team." Yusei looked over to the two who hadn't made a sound yet, a girl with long curly blonde hair, and a guy wearing goggles, who instantly jumped forwards upon noticing Aki.

"Hey there sweet cheeks," he said with a grin. Aki simply rolled her eyes, and continued to eat, not bothering giving him a response. The girl next to him though certainly did.

"Valon honey, I'm right here," she said, crossing her arms.

He didn't seem fazed by her obvious annoyance, "You know I'm kiddin', Mai."

Jack then cleared his throat, "Do you mind moving along? Your presence isn't exactly welcomed."

Yusei sat and pushed his food around the plate as the banter continued. He wasn't really listening, and couldn't be bothered putting in the effort to join in, as Jack, Crow and Atem were doing a good enough job at retaliating to their comments as it was. It wasn't until a certain sentence caught his ears though, that he'd had enough.

"The only chance you guys would have at winning, is facing up against the failure of a Faunus parade," Valon sneered, pointing to one of the tables behind him.

Yusei stood from his chair. "I've had enough to eat," he said, "I think I'll go finish un-packing." Atem was confused, he was sure that Yusei had already un-packed all of his stuff before.

Rafael then spoke up, "What, are you afraid that you'll get beaten by animals?" Yusei had already been in the process of walking away, but he stopped dead in his tracks. _Keep walking, _he thought to himself. _Keep. Walking. _

"If we _were_ to lose," Atem then said, "It would be to _people. _They're no different to us, so you can get off of your arrogant high horse." Still standing facing away from the group, Yusei's shoulders relaxed slightly, before he continued to leave the building. After finishing his argument with Rafael, Atem stood as well. "I'm done with this," he said, before turning to his new friends, "I'll see you guys later."

It took Atem only a couple of minutes to reach their dorm room, and when he did, he saw Yusei sitting on his bed, fiddling with his weapon. Atem stepped in and closed the door behind him, watching as his partner tweaked various parts inside the arm guard. "You alright?" Atem asked, sitting down on his own bed. He knew that Yusei left much too abruptly for it to be a coincidence, but he barely knew the guy, and wanted to get his head around Yusei's mannerisms before jumping to too many conclusions.

"Hm?" Yusei hummed, not looking up from his work, before he registered Atem's words and responded, "Yeah. I wasn't inclined to sit and listen to those guys run their mouths."

Atem watched him carefully as he worked, re calibrating the transmitter on his left wrist. "I'm guessing you've had a bit of practice keeping yours shut." Yusei looked up then, slightly confused, as that was indeed true. Atem saw the look on his partner's face, and moved to continue, "Look, we've known each other for just under a day, but I really want to...understand you." Yusei had paused from his work, and he looked at Atem, letting him speak. "Now, I'm just gonna list off the random things I've picked up today, you can tell me to shut up if you want." Yusei made no such noise, and so Atem continued. "When we met in the Emerald forest, you were really easy to talk to," _and make fun of. _"But as soon as more people are around, you tend to back off a bit. Now, I'm not sure if thats an introverted thing or whatever, but either way I don't care, that's just what I noticed. And then there was just before-" Atem's eyes had wandered a bit while he was talking, but now they focused on Yusei once more. "You were happy to ignore the jackass comments, until it hit something that must have bothered you. But, you didn't say anything." Atem, being the kind of person to always voice his annoyances, was confused by this. "Why's that?"

Yusei knew he had to reveal at least a small amount to satisfy Atem, because _damn _he was good at reading people. Yusei looked out the window, "You're pretty spot on with all of that," he said, his nausea threatening to return, "But yes, it did bother me." It took him a moment's pause, but Yusei finally forced the words out, "Because...someone quite close to me was a Faunus." If it weren't for Atem's comment back in the hall, Yusei wouldn't have even hinted to that fact, but this was his last ounce of trust he could give out, and thankfully, Atem did not disappoint. He simply sat there without a hint of judgement on his face. "But I didn't say anything, because where I grew up, keeping your mouth shut was more of a benefit than retaliating." Yusei moved to keep fiddling with the transmitter, "At least, I learned that the hard way. From then on, you get used to it."

"I see," Atem said, watching as his partner continued fiddling with his wrist brace, the arm guard still sitting by his side. He then thought over Yusei's words. "Wait, _was_?" He questioned the man's choice of words when speaking of the Faunus friend, but Yusei didn't respond, and he decided it was best left for another time. Atem cast his eyes down to the object Yusei had placed aside a moment ago. "So, does your weapon have a name?" he asked.

Yusei blinked, before his eyes focused on his arm guard once more. "Uh, no, it doesn't."

Atem shook his head, "Everyone gives their weapon a name, you'll have to think of one." Yusei wasn't exactly familiar with this, but he went along anyway, asking Atem what his was. The man pointed to each sword that protruded over his shoulders, "Soul, and Shadow," he said.

They continued to chat for a little longer, until Aki and Crow returned, complaining that their team mates were 'being boring' and Atem suggested they pull out their game from before. The other three were quite happy with that idea, so they all sat down once more, as the room was filled with curses, laughter, and playful threats. As the night wore on, the teenagers finally relaxed after a hectic day of fighting Grimm and meeting new people. They knew that there was a lot that lay ahead of them this semester, but despite the obstacles they knew they all had to face, they seemed to silently agree to continue the ritual of video games and laughter, no matter how stressful things got.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

The next morning, Atem stepped out of their room to see the hallway alight with students chatting, as they all emerged in their new uniforms. Classes started up today, and from what Atem saw on his schedule, he and Yusei would be in the same classes as team JACK. Last night, after Aki and Crow had left, he'd asked Yusei what had bothered him when the mention of home came up. Yusei had been a bit hesitant to answer at first, but finally admitted that he got home sick quite easily, as he wasn't from Vale. There was still a lot that Atem was trying to figure out about his new partner, but he was sure he'd get there bit by bit.

Finally, Atem's room mate emerged from their room, and he had to take a moment to assess how Yusei was wearing the uniform. Well, it wasn't the uniform that concerned him, it was the additions. Underneath the button up, was a high necked shirt, and he still wore his gloves, which covered his hands but left fingers free. Atem shrugged to himself after a moment, whatever made him comfortable, he guessed. Perhaps it was a little colder here than where he was used to.

Just as the pair moved to head off, the door across the hall opened, and Aki emerged, soon followed by Crow. The pair gave them a good morning greeting, and Yusei seemed confused as they closed the door. "Where are Jack and Kiryu?" he asked.

Crow shrugged as the four headed off down the hall, "They already left earlier," he said, "Something about needing to speak with one of the professors."

"Fair enough," Atem replied. They soon arrived at their first class, which was History, run by Professor Godwin. There were a few students there they recognised from the induction ceremony yesterday, but most of them were new faces. Aki and Crow soon noticed their team mates, and chose seats beside them, so Atem and Yusei followed suit. The class was..._enlightening _at most, for lack of a better word, though Atem still found himself wanting to doze off. Yusei at least seemed a little more interested, as well as Aki, but it didn't take long for Crow to start scribbling in his book. The teen's musings on paper seemed to entertain Atem for long enough to get him through the class, and the two seemed to make a silent pact to keep each other awake in such classes in the future.

Two classes and a lunch break later, and they finally got to Weapons and Combat. Atem had been waiting all day for this class, and he couldn't help but grin as they made their way into the training hall. They'd been allowed to change out of their uniforms into their fighting gear for this class, and all of the students gathered in the grandstand. There were two professors who held this class; Tetsu Ushio and Mina Simington. Having the both of them there made the class run a lot smoother, especially when they got to the practical side of things. The class began with Mina explaining that they were going to focus on Semblances in fighting to begin with. Every student should have developed a semblance hopefully, and so they were going to try and utilize their individual skills with their fighting style. The class was then split into two groups, one group went with Ushio, and the other with Mina. Atem, Yusei and team JACK all ended up with Mina, as she went through each student's semblance.

"Crow," She then said, gaining the boy's attention, "What would your semblance be, if you don't mind sharing?"

He straightened up, and placed hands on hips confidently, "My sight," he said. She nodded, urging him to explain. "Well, I can see up to a kilometer in distance, which means most of the time I can hit any target," he then pulled his bow off of his back to indicate to it, and Mina nodded.

"I see," she said, "So having a long range weapon complimented that quite well. Excellent." She then turned back to the rest of the group. "So all of you have been put into pairs within your teams. I'm assuming most of you had not met each other until yesterday, so while we are focusing on semblances, today is also a day to get to know your partner, and your team better. Especially when it comes to fighting." She then turned to the last two students. "Fudo, Muran, would you please step forwards?" The two teens stepped up in confusion. "I have not asked your semblances, but I want the class to guess them. The best way to learn how to understand your partner, is the method you would use to understand your opponent." She then stepped back so that she was standing with the group, "I would like you two to fight each other."

The two teens blinked at her. "Fight each _other_?" Atem asked.

Mina nodded, "Tournament style. The first to apprehend the other will be the winner." While Mina told the group to pay attention to their fighting styles and possible semblances, Atem and Yusei moved into place. Sure, they'd expected to be fighting against their class mates today, but not each other. What bothered Atem though, was the notion of using his semblance against Yusei. Sure, he'd used it against Grimm before, but he didn't know what it would do to a person, and didn't want to find out. All he could do was try and focus on Yusei, as he knew the other had speed on his side. At least Atem would have the element of surprise.

Mina signaled them to ready their weapons, and Atem pulled his swords out, while Yusei activated his blade. They had both been given devices that would monitor their Aura, and as it was set to training mode, none of their strikes would actually hit each other. Mina didn't want her students to leave their first class with lacerations, after all. All they needed to do was hit the zones that lit up around them, almost like holographic armor.

"Begin!"

The two began circling each other, eyeing off the other and trying to predict each other's movements. After a moment, it became clear to Atem that Yusei was not going to make the first move, so he lunged forwards, striking at Yusei's side. The other anticipated Atem's move and side stepped him, before retaliating with a swipe to the head. What he hadn't anticipated though, was the way in which Atem defended himself. Usually, a duel wielder could not defend themselves as well because they would attack with both swords and then be left wide open. Atem however, had lunged with his right arm, and when Yusei moved to swipe at him, Atem was already prepared, raising his other sword and flipping it so that he was holding it upside down, running down the length of his arm. It acted as a sort of shield for him as Yusei's blade made contact with the sword, and they fought against each other in a strength battle. As Yusei struggled against Atem's sword, the latter took this moment to try his semblance.

A deep breath later, and suddenly Yusei's eyes widened in shock, as he stumbled backwards, pulling his blade away from Atem's. The shorter male lowered his sword as the two stared at each other, curious as to the outcome.

"What was that?" Yusei whispered, moving the fingers on his left hand, as his weapon did not respond. Atem was breathing heavily from the move, already feeling worn out. Well, that's what using your semblance did to you. He grinned, and Yusei simply shook his head, meeting that grin with one of his own. _Bring it on. _

Atem raised his swords once more, before darting forwards to attack again, and instead of meeting him with his blade like Yusei had done before, he dodged it and swung his leg out, knocking Atem off balance. Now certain that Atem couldn't block with his swords, Yusei sent a strike to his side, as the holographic armor lit up red. Atem knew that he wouldn't be as agile, now that he'd been worn out from his last move, and as he looked at his progress bar, he could see his Aura was low. He needed to put all of his energy into his last attack. He lunged forwards, aiming his swords at Yusei's arm guard, to cause him to try and avoid the same thing happening again. Just as Yusei moved, Atem hit Yusei's side, and grinned as it lit up red. Just as Atem was about to strike with his other sword though, his sight of Yusei faltered.

_What?_

His partner was suddenly gone, and Atem was left staring wide eyed at the empty space in front of him. He only had the time to blink in confusion for a millisecond though, before there was a strike at his back; Yusei was now behind him. Before he even had the chance to try to turn around though, the taller male had grabbed his arm forced him to the ground, swords clattering onto the concrete. Yusei was then kneeling over his partner, knee digging into Atem's back and blade raised to the back of his throat, as Mina called off the fight. Yusei then slumped his shoulders, he'd almost forgotten how much that took out of him.

"Excellent!" She announced, "Absolutely wonderful, just what we wanted to see, from both of you."

Yusei stood up once more, holding a hand out to his partner. "Sorry, I got a bit carried away," he muttered sheepishly.

Atem simply laughed, gratefully accepting Yusei's outstretched hand, as he was pulled to his feet. "It's all good, though is your...arm thingy alright?"

Yusei raised his arm, and was still unable to change the mode of the guard. "It may need some more tweaking, but it'll be fine. It needed an upgrade anyway."

Mina then grabbed their attention again, "Alright! So can anyone tell me what their semblances are?" The group all sat silently as she waited, none of them willing to put up an idea. She looked disappointed when nobody seemed to have a clue, and let out a sigh, turning back to the two teens. "Would you boys care to explain?"

Atem raised his sword, "Internal pressure," he said. "Anything I touch can essentially erupt from the inside, if I choose. I designed my swords to work as a conductor, which is why Yusei's weapon malfunctioned earlier." Sitting in the stands, Aki then thought back to when Atem had broken her chain Scythe in half. Perhaps that was how he had done it?

Mina was ecstatic, "Brilliant, Atem. How about you, Yusei?"

The teen looked at the group before them, almost wanting to use his semblance as he was put on the spot. "I uh, I can seemingly 'disappear' to my opponent, by creating a wall of light that projects the image of what's behind me."

Atem turned to his partner in confusion, "I thought you said that speed was your semblance?"

Yusei didn't turn to look at his partner as he replied, "I didn't. You merely assumed it was."

...

"God damn it."

Atem looked up as his room mate muttered to himself once again. Yusei had been in the process of trying to fix his arm guard after his fight with Atem that afternoon, while the latter slugged his way through some homework. "Are you quite alright over there?"

Yusei put down the tool he was holding, "You did quite the number on it today," he joked.

Atem was currently sitting on the floor, a map of Remnant and an open book spread out in front of him, as he gave Yusei an apologetic smile, "Sorry."

The man on the bed waved a care free hand at him, "It's alright. Better for me to sort this out now then come across it later." He then took another look at the inside of his arm guard, before looking back down at the man on the floor, "You wouldn't be able to tell me exactly what you did to it, would you?"

Atem gave him a sheepish look as he shrugged his shoulders, "Sorry, I've never tried it on anything mechanical before, I was just as surprised as you were."

Yusei chuckled, "Well, it's a learning curve for both of us, then. I think I'll just have to replace the wires and..." His words slowly descended to incoherent mutters, as he fiddled with the insides of the guard, before putting it back down with a sigh. He then took a moment to watch his room mate as Atem tried to continue his work. It was a bunch of questions that they'd been given from History, and despite the fact Atem hadn't been all that interested in it, he had made a decent effort to get the homework done (more so because he didn't want to deal with it later). Yusei was pleased that he was trying to get it done, though it was obvious that he hadn't listened all that closely. He leaned down to point at Atem's handwriting, "That's wrong, by the way." He then moved to point at a place on the map, "_this _is where they tried to keep all the Faunus."

Atem groaned ever so slightly and moved to cross out his answer to correct it, as he mumbled, "Since when were you such a know-it-all?"

Yusei was amused by the question, "I simply listen in class, it gets you a long way." He could only grin ever so slightly as Atem finished re-writing his answer, visibly trying not to grumble at him. After a moment, he spoke again, "You're very competitive, aren't you?"

Atem stopped to look up at him, "I'm not competitive," he retorted.

Yusei tried not to smirk, "Then why were you so sour after losing to me earlier?" He could clearly remember how Atem had been noticeably grumpy for the rest of their Weapons and Combat class, and each time they needed to demonstrate something, he would put a considerable amount of effort in to try and make up for it.

"I wasn't being sour," was the reply he got, as Atem looked back down at his work, "I was just confused."

This made Yusei curious. It wasn't the kind of excuse one would usually put forward. "About what?" he asked.

Atem paused, trying to think of the right words. "Well, back in the Emerald forest, when you saved my ass-you moved faster than what I thought humanly possible. If it were your semblance, that would make sense, but..."

Yusei understood what he meant, "But today when you were expecting speed, you were confronted with my light illusion." Atem nodded, and Yusei was now put on the spot to give an explanation. He looked out the window for a moment, "I've just...always been fast. When growing up, I was taught to be light on my feet, and agility has always been my thing, so..."

Atem watched him carefully, "So it's just a gift of yours..."

Yusei didn't look back at him, "A gift," he then lowered his voice, as if talking to himself, "Yeah."

...

"Hey Yusei!"

Atem watched curiously as the man in question visibly jumped in his seat, eyes opening wide and an arm flying to his shoulder, where Crow had slapped his own hand. The orange haired teen just stared wide eyed at his friend, who was staring at him in shock, with his blade protruding from the arm guard. After a split second, he seemed to snap back to reality, and quickly deactivated his blade, turning back to the table in front of him.

"Sorry," he muttered, "You just startled me is all."

Crow had seemed a little more than startled at Yusei's reaction, but he sat down next to the guy none the less. "Don't worry about it, I guess people say I sneak up on them a little too easily..."

The group had just sat down in the eating hall, after their first day of classes, and things seemed to be going alright. Atem had managed to get the better part of his homework done-with a little too much help from Yusei-and as he had just accidentally demonstrated, Yusei had managed to fix his arm guard (all he had to do was replace all the connecting wires that had been blown apart). Atem wondered how jumpy the guy was all the time, unless it was just a rare occasion when he would be startled into retaliation. Atem had to admit, there had been a few times at his old school where someone had startled him and he'd turned a blade on them; though that was all during combat activities, anyway. Then there was that other time...

_"Tch, you're supposed to be alert, not _**_stupid_**_." _

The man's voice echoed through his head, and Atem wanted to roll his eyes out of habit. Despite how his attitude had differed since then, it still wasn't pleasant to think about. He wasn't able to dwell on his thoughts for too long however, as the last member of the table spoke up.

"Hey Crow," Kiryu grabbed the boy's attention, "Where's Aki?" he then paused as he looked around, "...and Jack?"

The boy in question looked around as well, "That's a good question, the last I saw of Aki was when I left our room, she said she'd catch up..."

They patiently sat in confusion for a minute or so-perhaps she simply got caught up somewhere-though the whereabouts of Jack was completely unknown. They were about to get up and grab some food when a commotion was made known just outside the eating hall. Despite the fact that the voices were muffled to Atem, Crow and Kiryu, Yusei managed to hear it all.

"Ugh, you disgusting excuse for a human being!" Aki's voice bellowed from behind the doors, before another voice joined her.

"What the _hell _do you think you're doing?" Jack sounded beyond pissed off, before there was a thump. The four members of the table were instantly on their feet, confused as to what was going on, but also keen to help out, should they be needed. Kiryu was the first one through the door, and he soon spotted the two they had heard, just behind the row of pillars that lead to the hall. What wasn't surprising though, was that Jack had an annoyed looking Valon pinned against the wall with his fist in the other's shirt. "If you _ever _touch one of my team mates again," he threatened, "I will have your ass stapled to an airship before you can say _'oops.'_"

Yusei then saw Aki, who was stepping away from the two, holding the now broken strap that had been keeping her stockings up with a sour look on her face. "Are you alright?" he asked her.

She sent a glare over her shoulder, before walking past the four onlookers, "Yes, I'm fine, thank you." Atem, Yusei, Crow and Kiryu all watched as she stalked away-back to their room most likely-before their attention was brought back to Jack and Valon.

"Whatever," Valon spat, clawing at Jack's arm, "Get your hands off of me." His cheek looked quite red, even in the shadow of the pillar, and so they all assumed Aki had slapped the bastard pretty hard. Crow wouldn't have expected anything less; his partner could very well take care of herself, but there was no harm in ruffing up the perpetrator anyway, especially if it meant he'd think twice before doing it again.

Jack pushed him into the wall harder, _"Do I make myself clear?" _

Valon rolled his eyes, "Yes, alright, fine." After a moment, Jack let him go with a dissatisfied grunt. Valon straightened out his shirt as he moved to leave, but Kiryu stepped in front of him.

"That goes for us, too," he warned. "Make sure your team gets the message." Valon only had to take one glance at the three other men to know their thoughts were the same, before he pushed past them, muttering annoyance as he went.

Once he was out of earshot, Atem turned to Jack, "What was that all about?" Of course he could make an educated guess, but he wanted to know the whole story.

Jack stepped forwards, joining his partner in front of the pillars. "Despite our argument yesterday, he couldn't seem to keep his hands to himself." He then turned to Crow, who seemed to already know a great deal about the girl, "Is she alright?"

Crow nodded, "Just pissed off, she'll be back soon." Seemingly satisfied, the group then made their way back into the eating hall to grab their food. Ten minutes later and they were settled in, idly chatting and munching on pasta, when Aki returned. She had changed into a pair of jeans, and sat down across from Crow with her food, giving him a reassuring smile. The group didn't need to comment, so they continued eating, before Crow spoke up.

"Oh, did you guys hear the rumors going around?" he asked, mouth half full with pasta. Aki scolded him and told him to swallow before speaking, and the rest of the table turned to him expectantly, with Kiryu asking what the rumors were. Crow swallowed his food and tried again, "I heard from one of the other teams-apparently there's some students who cheated and snuck into the Academy this year."

Yusei then seemed to inhale his pasta and started coughing, causing Atem to turn to him in concern. The latter murmured some form of question along the lines of 'are you okay', before Yusei waved him off and took a deep breath. Now finished spluttering, he looked back to Crow, "People can do that?"

Crow shrugged, "Apparently."

"I wouldn't be surprised if it was Raphael and his crew," Jack said, jerking a finger over his shoulder, "Those guys don't seem competent enough to be Huntsmen."

Surprisingly, it was Aki who spoke next, "Keep in mind though, none of us are competent enough to be Huntsmen or Huntresses, that's why we're here."

Crow clicked in her direction, nodding with a grin on his face, before turning to Jack. "Oh, did Jack just get shut down?!"

The blond simply glared at him, "Either way, I don't think they deserve to be here, especially with what they've shown us in the last 24 hours." He then turned to the rest of the group, "Can Dartz kick people out for sucking?"

Kiryu instantly snorted and burst into a fit of laughter, leaning his head on the palm of his hand. The group simply stared at him, but after a moment, Atem caught on and joined in, slapping the table as he covered his mouth. Jack stared at the two laughing teenagers, and then noticed that Aki and Yusei were trying not to smile-and failing. Crow was still giving them all confused looks, and when Jack turned back to his partner, Kiryu had calmed down just enough to mumble, "Sucking _what?" _

Jack stared at him for a moment, before rolling his eyes, "Oh for the love of-" he did the best representation of a face palm, before Crow laughed as well.

"You know," the red head said after he'd had his turn, "There _are_ rules against fornicating."

"Well, there you go," Atem said, leaning forwards on the table with a cheeky grin, "You _can_ get kicked out for sucking." Jack didn't look impressed. "Oh come, it is a little funny," he then said, "Even Aki is amused."

She leaned back and put her hands up, "Hey, don't bring me into this."

Atem and Jack simply stared at each other for a moment, Atem grinning hopefully, and Jack creasing his eyebrows. After a minute or two, Jack finally spoke.

"Alright," he muttered, "It is a _little_ funny."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

After a hectic day of surprise quizzes, combat circuits and dust exploding in his face, Atem was glad to be in his warm bed, hearing nothing but the quiet breeze that blew in through the window, and Yusei's steady breathing on the other side of the room. In the month that they had been at Beacon, they seemed to have learnt a hell of a lot. From the history of the Faunus rights, to how Dust was discovered, to weapon maintenance, to hand to hand combat. The last thought made Atem sigh inwardly; he was never good at fighting without weapons. He'd always relied on his blades, because why punch someone when you could slice them open? It was an odd ideology, but really it was a simple misunderstanding about his role model, which Atem hadn't grasped yet. All he knew was that he trusted his swords, and wasn't quite sure what to do with his hands if he weren't holding them.

Another thing that Atem had noticed, was that his partner wasn't all that keen on being touched, unless he were the one to initiate it. For example, when they first met, Yusei had held his hand out to Atem, which was fine. Then, when Atem had reached up to brush the leaf out of his hair, Yusei had acted strangely, and Atem hadn't missed the discomfort on his face. Similar occurrences had happened since then, too. From the time that Crow surprised him in the eating hall, to one day when Atem had approached him in a hallway and poked his side. Since then, he had decided it was best to keep his distance, though the guy seemed to be warming up to the group quite well. During their evening video game sessions, he had become more vocal, as with all group situations, really. Perhaps Yusei was just the kind of guy that needed to settle in with new groups before fully opening himself up, which was completely understandable.

Atem just happened to be the kind of person to be loud and confident whether he knew the person or not, and he had done just that the day he met Yusei. He still remembered how he had teased the taller teen, and it had definitely caught the guy off guard, but he was sure that Yusei was used to his antics by now.

The peaceful night had easily let Atem drift into a slumber, as tired muscles relaxed beneath sheets, but it was a matter of hours later, when that sleep was interrupted. Lying on his stomach, arm hanging over the edge of the bed, the teen was startled awake by a loud thud. Wearily opening his eyes, Atem looked over to his room mate in confusion. He could see the digital alarm clock that usually sat on Yusei's bedside table now sitting on the floor, the digits softly illuminating the space in front of it;_12:03am. _

Atem then blinked and looked up at the man on the bed, noticing how the sheets were in complete disarray. The guy then rolled over again, as Atem realised he must have knocked the clock of of the table somehow in his fidgeting. Something didn't seem right though, and when Yusei rolled over once more, Atem saw how his eyebrows were creased, his face twisted into a mask of fear.

_He must be having a nightmare. _Atem pulled himself into a sitting position on the side of the bed, he couldn't just watch Yusei toss and turn like that, he had to wake him up. Standing up on two feet, the teen took the couple of steps needed to reach the other's bed, and picked up the clock to put back in it's place. Yusei flinched then, still deep asleep, and Atem couldn't help but wonder what was going on behind those eyelids. He couldn't watch it any longer though, so he carefully leaned over his partner to gently nudge him awake. Yusei didn't seem to respond, so Atem nudged him harder, and suddenly Yusei's eyes flew wide. The next thing Atem knew, was a blinding force smashing into his face as he stumbled back, pain running through his nose. He had fallen straight onto his ass in the process, as a hand flew to his face in shock.

"Jesus _christ, _Yusei!" He cursed, having been in complete shock from the retaliation.

The man in the bed had shot up into a sitting position, and stared down at his room mate in mirroring shock. His chest was heaving, ragged breaths tearing past chapped lips as he sat wide eyed. "I..."

Atem stared wildly at him, "What the _hell_ was that?!" he then moved his hand away for a moment, and noticed the blood that was dripping from his nose, and cursed again.

Yusei was then jumping out of the bed, and ran into the bathroom, before emerging with a handful of toilet paper. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-" He moved to try and help Atem with his nose, but the other simply snatched the toilet paper out of his hand.

"Just shut up for a second," Atem said, lifting his head and pressing the tissue against his nose. This certainly wasn't how he had expected his night to turn out, but as his momentary anger filtered away, he thought that it would certainly make for a good story to tell the next day. After a moment, he brought his head back down, but still held the paper there. "Where did you learn to punch like that?"

Yusei had been kneeling in front of him, his eyebrows creased in concern as he waited, and he hesitated. "I am really sorry," he said, before looking away for a moment. "You just...scared me is all."

Atem raised an eyebrow, "So I am going to have an almighty bruise tomorrow simply because I unintentionally scared you? Geez, I feel sorry for all the people you spent Halloween with."

Yusei let out an uneasy chuckle, "Are you alright?"

Atem sighed, "Yeah, I'll be fine. I've certainly had worse, but-" he pulled the paper back from his nose, and though it was decently spotted red, he could still feel more blood threatening to drip from his nose, so he put it back. "You managed to scare the crap out of me, too."

Yusei still looked guilty, "I really am sorry."

Atem was done with the apologies, "It's fine. In fact, if you want to make it up to me, I'll strike you a deal." Yusei's eyes lit up ever so slightly, and Atem had to stop himself from smiling. "Teach me to punch like that, and I'll forget about it." He smiled ever so slightly, and despite the fact he had a bunch of bloody tissue pressed against his nose, Yusei thought of how nice a smile he had.

He returned the smile as he held out his hand, "You've got a deal." Atem grinned and shook his hand, and then they sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes. Yusei had moved from kneeling to sitting, as Atem lifted his head up again, hoping it would stop the bleeding.

"You know," Atem said after a while, breaking the silence as he brought his head back down, "You get startled way too easily; makes me think you grew up outside of the kingdoms or something."

Yusei looked taken back for a moment, before he replied, "No, no, that's not it at all."

Atem paused, bringing the tissue back down for a moment, "So what is it, then?"

Yusei sat back for a moment, looking at the floorboards. He hadn't originally wanted to share the reasoning, but he felt like he owed Atem an explanation after assaulting him, at least. Finally, he let out a sigh, "Alright, it's really stupid, but when I was growing up, my-my older brother would always play these pranks on me. He was really cruel, sometimes I would wake up and find he'd put a tarantula on my pillow, or I'd walk around a corner and he'd be there, wielding one of his new weapons to test on me. Because it went on for so long, I just grew used to expecting that kind of thing wherever I turned. That's...that's also why I'm so light on my feet, I got used to having to be on my toes all the time."

Atem's nose had finally stopped bleeding, as he sat with the bloody tissue in his lap, "Geez, what a dick. What did your parents do about it?"

Yusei sat with his mouth open for a millisecond, "They...they weren't around much," he finally said. "So, when I was able to come here, I was over the moon. But it'll take a little while for me to shake the idea that nothing's going to happen while I sleep." Seemed reasonable enough, Atem thought. He just wished he had known that before he had tried to wake Yusei up. He would have stood a meter away and poked him with a stick or something. Yusei then looked up at him again, "So what about you? What's your story?"

Atem was surprised that he'd turned the conversation over to him, but he figured he may as well share. "I, well, what do you want to know?"

Yusei was looking at him hopefully, "Um, what about, why you want to be a huntsman."

Ah, now that was an interesting question. "Well," Atem began. "My dad was actually one of the greatest Huntsmen to graduate from Beacon, apparently. I'm pretty sure he graduated along with Dartz and Ms Mazaki, too. When I was growing up, he was my hero, going out to fight monsters and keep peace. So of course, I wanted to follow in his footsteps..."

Of course, Atem could remember how badly that had originally turned out for him.

_A low rumble sounded from the man's throat, not unlike a growl, "You never _**_listen_**_, Atem. Being a good huntsman isn't about power. You don't need the biggest weapon or the strongest moves. Now put the blades away and stop wasting my time!" _

Yusei had been listening carefully, and when Atem stopped, he cautiously asked, "What do you mean...he _was _one of the greatest Hunstmen...?"

Atem looked down at the bloody tissue in his hands. "He...died two years ago. A confrontation with the White Fang, I was told. All I really know is he went out one night and never came back."

Yusei's eyebrows had disappeared under his hair. "Geez, I'm sorry."

Atem waved him off, "It's alright. I'm a lot better fighter now than I was back then, mainly because I've actually taken on board everything he told me." Then again, Atem realised he hadn't actually taken on board _everything _his father had told him, and now that was coming back to bite him in the ass. _Figures, _he thought.

They managed to stay up for quite a while longer, sharing stories and talking about their lives. It was actually really nice, Atem thought, getting to talk to Yusei like this. It was several hours later when they finally crawled back to bed, but despite how tired they knew they would be in the morning, they knew it was worth it. Atem wasn't sure what it was about early morning talks, but they always managed to bring people together, whether it as having a D'n' M at a sleepover, or just talking to forget about a bad dream. He was glad though, because he was starting to get a better understanding of his partner, and at this stage, that was all he wanted.

...

"I hate you. I hate you so much."

The mumbling coming from Atem was barely audible, but Yusei had heard it none the less. They were sitting side by side in History once again, and Atem had his head on the table, face down, while Yusei was leaning on the palm of his hand, eyes drooping ever so slightly. They had expected to be tired, but tired was an understatement for how they felt now.

"Nah, you love me," Yusei mumbled in reply. "Besides, this is your fault."

Atem lifted his head up. Each of his sentences were spoken slower in the state he was in. "Why is this _my_ fault?"

Yusei gave him a sidewards glance, "Because you woke me up."

Atem suddenly looked awake again, "You punched me in the face!"

Crow turned to the two, "Is that why your nose is bruised?"

"Yes," Atem grumbled before deflating again, it may have been easier to stay awake if this weren't History. "And for the record, I woke you up because you were tossing around like a lunatic, and woke _me _up by knocking the clock off the table. So therefore, you started it."

Jack was then heard grumbling from a few seats down, "God, you two sound like an old married couple."

Professor Godwin was still rambling on at the front of the class, but by now the group of six were not paying any attention at all. Even Aki was interested in the tired antics of the two at the end of their row.

"Sound like?" Atem said, obviously not thinking at all about what he was saying, "We practically are married."

"What?" Yusei suddenly interjected, "On what grounds?"

Atem shrugged lazily, "Well, we live together."

Yusei raised an eyebrow, "And?"

Atem lifted both hands palms up for a moment. "Hey, according to the government, if you live together for two years, you're defacto married anyway, so by the time we get out of here..." he raised his eyebrows suggestively, and Yusei purposefully leaned away from his partner.

"For the love of-" Yusei lifted himself off the palm of his hand for a moment, "Atem, part of being married is the whole being in a relationship thing." A few seats down, Crow and Aki were trying not to laugh. These two were going into this a little too much, but it certainly was amusing when they were sleep deprived.

Atem shrugged, "We could make that work." He was met with raised eyebrows, "What? You're pretty."

Yusei was caught by surprise, as he turned away for a moment, "Will you stop calling me that?"

Atem grinned, this was a lot more fun than usual. "Fine; gorgeous, aesthetically pleasing..." In the back of his mind, he was trying to make the guy blush, but either way, he was enjoying himself.

Yusei didn't look at him, so Atem wasn't sure if he had succeeded, "You're just being an asshole now."

Atem laughed, "No I'm serious, you're good looking!"

The rest of the group were baffled by this point. "Is...isn't that called flirting?" Aki asked, looking between them and her partner.

Crow shook his head, "With those two, I don't even know anymore."

Yusei could feel his face heating up, as he came to the conclusion that Atem _was _being an asshole, and it wasn't the first time either. _Half the time I can't even tell if he's kidding or not! _

Soon enough, lunch time rolled around, and as the group sat at their usual table in the eating hall, Atem found himself leaning against Yusei in an attempt to take a nap. The taller man, having been leaning on the palm of his hand had jumped a little at first, but then couldn't be bothered to push the guy off, so they sat there silently, drifting in and out of a doze. Crow had made sure to take lots of photos to blackmail them with later, especially when Yusei had completely reached sleep, and his head had fallen down onto the table, with Atem's head falling to rest on his back. It had been very amusing for the group, until Aki had scolded them and said to leave them alone, so luckily, they managed to sleep for the entire hour, until lunch was over.

Thankfully by the time they got to their Weapons and Combat class, the pair were feeling a bit more refreshed after their nap. As fun as this class was though, Atem hadn't been looking forward to it as much as usual. That thing that had come back to bite him in the ass? Yeah, that was what they had been working on for the last week: hand to hand combat. No weapons, no semblances, just you and your limbs.

Atem had always had his blades, and thus never worked too much on fighting without them, so you can imagine that he'd been having a hard time in this class for the past week. They'd been working on various techniques to use, but because he wasn't all that used to fighting without weapons, it was taking Atem a lot longer than the other students to catch on, and he hated it. Then at the end of each class, there would be sparring sessions, and the pairs would be picked at random by Mina at the last minute.

"Muran," she pointed towards the square painted on the ground, where the students were sparring, "and Valentine." A wave of murmurs swept through the group as Atem unwillingly stepped up, entering the square with the blonde smirking at him from the other side. Soon enough, Mina called for them to begin, and Atem's eyes flew wide as Mai swung out to kick him. He only just managed to duck in time, but then she was sending a punch to his gut, as he air was knocked from him. She stepped back for a moment, as her team cheered in the stand.

"Kick his ass, Babe!" Valon encouraged, a large grin on his face. There were five other people in the stands who would have happily shut him up with a punch of their own.

Mai folded her arms as Atem stood up straight once more, "Come on, fight me already."

Gritting his teeth, Atem charged towards her, throwing his arm out for a punch. She successfully diverted it with her forearm, throwing him off balance in the process, before grabbing his wrist and twisting it behind his back. Atem let out an involuntary yelp, before she kicked the back of his knee, forcing him to the ground. Mai's team was whooping from the stands, and finally Mina called her the winner. As Atem pulled himself off of the ground, he avoided looking at the other students in the stand. Yusei had been right, he _was _competitive, and he hated losing, especially as pathetically as just then. He trudged back to the stand to sit with his friends, as the sparring continued. Yusei had managed to easily apprehend the guy he was put up against, but Atem hadn't paid attention to the rest. Luckily, just as Yusei's spar concluded, the bell rang, and everyone began filtering out. He ran over to the stands to grab his stuff, but Atem was already out the door, obviously not in the mood to hang around. It wasn't until Yusei got back to their room that he found the guy, lying flat on his back on the bed, arms spread wide as he stared at the bunk above him.

"Hey," Yusei said, dumping his books on the desk by the door.

Atem didn't turn to look at him as he responded, "Hi."

With a sigh, Yusei walked over to Atem, and stood by the bed with hands on hips. "Alright, what's up?" he demanded.

"Nothing."

Yusei wasn't having this. "It's not nothing," he said, "You're moping."

"I'm not moping."

"Yes you are," Yusei nudged Atem's side with his knee, "What's up?"

There was a moment of silence, before Atem gave in and sighed. "Fine." He sat up once again, leaning against the headboard. "You know how last night, I said that I was a lot better fighter now that I'd actually done what my Dad said?" Yusei nodded, sitting down on the bed, before Atem continued. "Well, that pathetic display is proof that I haven't. I always thought that fighting without weapons was stupid, and no matter how many times my father told me I was the one being stupid, I always wanted to fight with blades. He tried to teach me hand to hand combat, but I never listened, and never cared. Why learn how to punch someone when you can learn to pierce their heart through their back?" He shook his head, "So, eventually, my Dad gave up, and said, _'Fine, you want to play with blades? Play with blades, but when the day comes that you don't have your weapon, don't come crying to me.'" _He paused for a moment. "So now I'm the idiot who doesn't know what to do with his hands, and I'm falling behind."

Yusei had certainly noticed that hand to hand combat wasn't Atem's strong point, but it baffled him that the guy never really worked on it before. It was a couple of years into fighting before Yusei was even able to get his hands on a weapon, so for a while, all he had was his hands. "You just need a bit more practice than the rest of us, then, to catch up."

Atem nodded, before hesitating, and then finally deciding to speak. "Yusei...could you, possibly, help me please?"

The taller teen smiled at him, "Of course. We could spar in the hall after class if you want."

A smile finally made its way back onto Atem's face, and Yusei was glad. "That would be awesome," he said, "Thank you."

Yusei was still smiling as he stood up once more, "Think of it as me making up for punching you last night."

Atem let out a chuckle, "You did say you'd teach me how to punch like that." He moved a hand to his nose that was still bruised, and Yusei still felt a little guilty about it. He made a mental note to try and not freak out the next time he got woken up.

As he sat down on his own bed, he realised something. "Wait," he said, grabbing Atem's attention again. "Why did you wake me up again?"

Atem looked at the clock on the table, "You...you were having a nightmare I think. Woke me up when you knocked the clock onto the floor; you were tossing like mad."

Yusei seemed to stare at the clock, now remembering how he had woken up in a fright not only from Atem's nudge, but also from what was left of his dream. Raging flames and lots of screaming; that was all he could remember now. At least his punching Atem had distracted his mind from it all, otherwise he doubted he would have been able to get back to sleep. "Right," he said, turning the clock back towards him so that he could see the time, "Sorry."

"It's alright," Atem said, swinging his legs around so that he was sitting on the edge of the bed. "I'll probably have to apologise in advance for the amount you'll have to put up with me in the future."

Yusei simply chuckled, "That goes for me, too, I guess." He then stood up and walked over to the holo-tv, turning it on so that the screen was projected above the small box. "We've got lots of time though," he then said, grabbing two controllers and throwing one over to Atem, who grinned and moved over to the end of his bed. "We'll figure something out along the way."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

A light breeze swept through the trees at Forever Fall, blowing loose cherry coloured leaves from branches and down to the ground. The group of students making their way through the forest were one of many that would complete this excursion today, lead by the one and only Ms Mazaki. They were there to collect sap from the trees, as they were quite unique to the other forests on Remnant, but had to keep their guard up, as many Grimm roamed the area.

So they split into their teams, and set off with their task. They were informed to collect sap from both the younger and older trees, and that the higher you were in the trunk, the easier it was to collect. Yusei seemed to have no problem in swinging himself up into one of the trees, and Atem had to do a double take before he realised his partner was no longer standing beside him.

"You've got to be kidding me," the teen complained as he looked up, seeing Yusei already halfway up the tree. _How the hell does he do that? _Yusei looked down at him with a grin, and Atem already had hands on hips. "You are unbelievable." Yusei simply shrugged as he pulled out the jar to fill with sap. "Have any other hidden talents that I should know about?"

Yusei threw the now full jar down to Atem, "Hey, you already knew I could climb trees."

After catching the jar, Atem placed it on the ground, "What are you, a cat?"

The man in the tree could only laugh, he should have expected that kind of comment, "I just did it a lot when I was younger, it's not that hard."

"Alright," Atem rubbed his hands together, creating the challenge for himself. "I'm coming up then!" Jumping up to grab onto the branch above him, he pulled himself up, and repeated the process-much slower than Yusei had-until he had clambered up half the tree, content that he was high enough. While Atem had slowly made his way up the tree, Yusei had made himself comfortable in a spot where the trunk forked out, and he looked up at his partner who had passed him a minute ago.

Atem looked down at Yusei as he stood on the branch-that was a lot thinner than those further down the tree-and held onto the one above him. "Look at me, I'm Yusei Fudo!" He joked, jumping up and down on the branch, "I was raised by squirrels, cause I can climb a freaking tr-!"

Atem's announcement was cut short with the sound of a snap. He let out a wail of surprise as the branch beneath him broke, and he began to fall. Yusei had luckily anticipated the string of events, and was already swinging across on his wire, able to grab Atem's arm as he fell, and land in a crouching position on a neighboring branch. His partner was still hanging between the trees, about five meters off of the ground.

Atem stared at the ground, "I just made a complete fool out of myself, didn't I?"

Yusei couldn't help grinning as he began to pull Atem back up onto the branch, "Yep."

The answer he received in return was, "I hate you."

Yusei loosened his grip, "Do you want me to drop you?"

Atem tried not to show the sudden surprise that he felt at Yusei's threat, as he tried to grab onto the branch with his free hand. "Not particularly." There was a laugh in response as Yusei heaved him up onto the branch, and Atem thanked him, before turning and sitting down. "You know what? I think I'll stick to fighting."

Yusei let out a chuckle as he sat beside his team mate, "Perhaps you should." As they sat on the tree branch, looking out at all the brightly coloured leaves surrounding them, some voices began to echo up to them.

"I think you're looking into this a little too much," a female voice was saying. "It's probably just a rumor."

It appeared there were some people walking towards their direction, because the next voice became slightly louder. "Yeah, but think about it Aki, haven't the professors been acting a little weird? As if they're trying to figure out _who_ might be an intruder?"

Yusei stiffened beside Atem. "So, there really could be people who...don't belong here," he murmured. Those words had sent an unwelcome swell of nausea through his gut, and he tried very hard to ignore it.

Atem nodded, "Seems like it. We'll have to be on our guard."

Just as the group of four became visible to the pair in the trees, Kiryu began to speak. "You know, if my experience from watching movies is of any help, it's usually the person you least expect." So it was team JACK wandering through the forest, Atem realised. Of course, Crow was always the one to bring up rumors. He shared a silent look with Yusei, just as the group stopped at the base of the tree they were in. Atem was all for figuring out who these intruders were, but if these rumors kept up, he had a feeling it would backfire on all of the students pretty quickly. When people became suspicious, that's when alliances are tested, and trust becomes a thin line. He only hoped it would not come to something so drastic.

...

"Come _on_, Atem."

Yusei stood light on his feet across from the teen, as they both circled each other slowly. The training hall was peacefully quiet that afternoon, perfect for them to spar without any distractions. They had had a pretty easy day, mostly because of their trip to Forever Fall that morning, and so Yusei was still buzzing with energy. "Hit me already," he urged, opening his arms as an invitation.

Atem shrugged, a smile on the edge of his lips. "I don't want to hurt your pretty face."

Yusei then snorted, and jumped forwards with a kick to the other's abdomen. Atem managed to jump back, but only just in time. "You're an asshole," Yusei replied, stepping forwards with another kick. Atem only just managed to dodge that one as well, and finally decided to try a punch, which was quickly blocked.

Taking a few quick breaths, Atem smirked, "And you're stuck with me for a few more years."

A matter of seconds later, and Atem found himself on the ground. Having been slightly winded from the drop onto his back, he glared up at his partner as Yusei laughed, before holding a hand out. "Let's try that again," Yusei said as he pulled his team mate up. "Remember what I told you about your footing?"

Atem looked down at his feet, "Which was?" A short sigh came from Yusei, before he began to explain again.

They continued their sparring as the afternoon wore on, and by the hour mark they were pretty well exhausted. Yusei had none too gracefully flopped onto the ground once they were finished, and Atem was hunched over, with hands on his knees. After regaining some of his breath, Atem smirked and walked over to his friend.

"Don't let your guard down!" Atem joked, mimicking Yusei from only a few minutes ago, before he began lightly punching the other's stomach, as Yusei tried to fend him off.

"You punch like a girl!" Yusei teased, laughing as he tried to grab Atem's arms.

"Are you kidding?" Atem replied, just as Yusei grabbed one of his arms, "Have you seen some of the girls at this school?"

Yusei laughed, and then noticed his own opportunity. He suddenly flung his leg up in front of Atem's torso, throwing him onto his back. The man let out a grunt, followed by a round of sniggers.

Their laughter echoed through the training hall as they sat up again, before shaking hands as a truce. "Next time," Atem said, standing up and holding a hand out to Yusei, "I'll be the one to come out on top."

Yusei chuckled as he stood once more, "You keep thinking that."

Once they had dusted themselves off and grabbed their weapons that had been laying a few meters away, they set off to head back to their room, closing the doors to the training hall with a loud click. Despite their planned destination though, they were soon thrown off course. The pair had barely walked ten meters, when they ran into none other than the Headmaster himself.

"Professor Dartz," Atem said in surprise, stopping in his tracks beside Yusei.

The man regarded them with a pleased expression. "Gentlemen," he greeted the pair, "Could you spare a moment or two to join me?" Extending his hand down the hall behind them, Dartz smiled hopefully. Yusei's interactions with the man had been very limited, but he had decided that he very much liked the Professor, and he seemed to have a wisdom that made him well deserved of his position as headmaster.

Atem cast a quick glance to his partner, before replying, "Of course."

Dartz clasped his hands together, "Excellent." He then continued to walk, and the pair quickly fell into step on either side of the Headmaster. There was a moment of silence as the three walked, passing the doors to the training hall that they had just left. "I wanted to see how you two were going, especially since you're our only two-man team. Have you come across any troubles?"

Atem instantly thought of their first interaction with Rafael's team, and their comments about the annual tournament. Little did he know, the same thought had crossed Yusei's mind, but it was pushed away as soon as it had appeared. Taking the lead as he usually did-Atem was slowly getting used to the role-he replied.

"Not yet, no. Does give us a bit more room in our dorm, though," he joked.

Dartz chuckled, "Indeed it would." They then turned a corner into halls that neither Atem nor Yusei had ventured yet, and the pair found themselves curiously admiring the tapestries on the high walls. It seemed that the entire history of Beacon was depicted here, and it was an interesting one at that. "Have you managed to come up with a team name yet?"

Yusei's gaze snapped back to the Headmaster, having completely forgotten about the subject. "Oh," he said, eyebrows raising, "No, we haven't."

Atem then leaned forwards to give his partner a grin, "What can you make of A and Y?" Yusei simply shrugged and shook his head.

As they turned another corner, Dartz continued, "Well, you have plenty of time to think of one," he said, "And besides, every year we do get the odd drop out or two, perhaps you'll have a full team by the time we reach the tournament."

That idea made Atem feel slightly more at ease, whereas it had the complete opposite effect on Yusei, though he simply nodded, looking down the hall ahead of them. Dartz then spied his destination; a room down the end of the hall, the door of which was closed tight. As he stopped in front of it, he spun around to face the pair once more.

"There was one more thing I wanted to ask you..." he then said, the light tone disappearing from his voice. "Why did you decide to join the Academy?"

Both of the men were taken back by the sudden question, but Atem was the first to recover. "To fight monsters," he said.

Yusei nodded, indicating that his answer was the same. Dartz then looked slightly disappointed, or did Atem just imagine the slight drop of his shoulders? The Headmasters eyes closed for only a moment as the smile returned to his face. "Of course," he said. "I have high hopes for your futures as Huntsmen." After a nod and voicing his thanks for their time, he disappeared through the door.

Atem and Yusei stared at each other in slight confusion for a moment, before turning to head back down the hall. Up ahead, the hallway split, with three other pathways opening up before them. They stopped, already knowing their dilemma.

"Any idea how to get back to the dorms?" Atem asked.

Yusei shook his head, "Not a clue."

Atem clasped his hands together with grin, "Well," he said, "This will be fun." Yusei tried not to smile.

About five minutes later, and discovering that they had reached a dead end, the pair had turned around to make their way back when they noticed a room with its door wide open. Severely bored from trying to figure out the confusing corridors, Atem poked his head inside.

"Hey," his eyebrows disappeared under his hair as he stared into the room, "I didn't know we had a music room."

Yusei looked into the room curiously as Atem strode in, quickly finding the grand piano in the corner. The man at the door easily noticed how comfortable Atem seemed, pulling the bench closer as he lifted the fall board without a second thought. "You play?" Yusei asked, slowly moving into the room as Atem's hands ghosted over the keys.

"Yeah," Atem's eyes were distant as he regarded the keys, and Yusei saw the slightest sense of nostalgia in crimson orbs. "My Dad had me try all sorts of instruments when I was younger, but I always loved the piano. My teacher used to call me spider fingers."

Yusei chuckled, as he stopped beside the grand instrument, leaning against the side.

"What about you?" Atem then asked, "You play anything?"

Yusei shook his head, as Atem began to muck around on the keys, playing small bits and pieces that he remembered. He hadn't touched a piano since he started combat school, and he quite missed it. "I...never had the chance to learn an instrument," Yusei replied, watching on in curiosity. Atem continued to messily run his hands over the keys, until he thought of something. One of his favourites, and he hadn't played it in so long.

He quickly stretched his hands, before placing them on the keys, playing the few starting notes softly, eyes concentrated on the piano as he tried to remember. Yusei's eyebrows had lifted ever so slightly as he watched, and soon Atem had closed his eyes, the intro finished as he lead into the song, letting muscle memory take over. Yusei stood there silently, watching hands run over keys, completely gobsmacked that Atem had such a skill under his belt. A smile formed on the man's lips as he continued to play, the song growing in tempo and volume, foot moving on the pedals below. Yusei had figured he may as well have not been in the room, as he watched the way his partner's scarred hands moved gracefully over the keys. It seemed like an odd sight; the huntsman in training that he had come to know, with his undeniable strength and ruthlessness, being able to create such beautiful sounds with the gentle press of fingers on piano keys.

Atem then opened his eyes and grinned at Yusei, as the song picked up even more. He was definitely enjoying himself now. One reason being it had been far too long since he played, and he very much missed it. The other, had to do with the fact that he was undoubtedly showing off-he may have added in a few flares that weren't on the sheet music. Show off or not though, Atem didn't care, for if it made Yusei look at him like that then he would be sure to do it again.

He looked back down at the keys again as the song began to slow, nearing its end, and as he played the final notes, all that was left of the song was the echo from the strings, until he lifted his foot from the pedal beneath. Looking back up at his partner with a smile, Atem noticed that Yusei seemed to be staring at the keys still, that same soft smile from before sitting on his face.

"What do you think?" Atem suddenly asked, causing Yusei's gaze to snap to him once more. The man himself suddenly felt embarrassed for being caught up in his thoughts like that, as he looked away for a moment, willing the heat in his cheeks to go away.

"It...it was beautiful," Yusei said finally, lifting himself from where he had been leaning on the piano. "I had no idea you were a musician."

Atem then smirked, "Well, you may be able to show me up in hand to hand combat, but this is my forte," he said, before adding, "Pun intended." Yusei let out a short laugh, before Atem shuffled over on the stool, "Sit." Yusei raised his eyebrows, and Atem nodded his head to the spot beside him, "Sit, I want to teach you something."

"Alright, but I'm no Mozart." Yusei sat down on the stool beside Atem, brushing shoulders as the musician raised a hand to the keys once more.

"This is one of the first songs I learnt, all you've got to do is repeat after me."

Twenty minutes passed as the pair sat at the piano, notes echoing off the walls, most of the sour ones belonging to Yusei, followed by laughs each time. Finally, Yusei had managed to play the part meant for the right hand-the simplest version of it, at least- and after announcing that he wasn't coordinated enough to try the left as well, Atem suggested he do that for him.

So they played the song together. Atem was grinning as he played along, changing his speed to match Yusei's uncertainly every now and again, and he cast a glance to the side, seeing the smile on his partner's face, as well of the look of concentration in his eyes. Atem pulled his hand back from the piano, letting Yusei play the last bit on his own-not quite as smoothly as Atem had-and he simply watched the man's hand move. It was a little stiff and not quite in time, but he felt proud that he had managed to teach him even something small. And if it brought that smile to his partner's face, then he definitely wanted to do that again. It wasn't like Yusei didn't smile that often, but the times where his eyes lit up and crinkled at the sides, like when he laughed-full heartedly-they seemed a little more rare, and if Atem were the reason, well, it gave him a pretty good feeling.

It was while Yusei was finishing his part that Atem noticed some scars sticking out from under his partner's glove. "Where'd you get those?" he asked, pointing to the man's fingers.

Yusei recoiled ever so slightly, before looking at his hand, "Oh, you know, fighting Grimm and all of that. I've got a few, just like you." Yusei pointed to Atem's hand, which did indeed have scars on it, but as Atem compared the two, he noticed his were all thin and shallow, but Yusei's had obviously been deeper and more vicious, which is why he had enquired about it in the first place.

As Yusei fidgeted with his glove, pulling the edge of it on his fingers, Atem replied. "Must have been some big Grimm," he joked.

"Ha," Yusei let out the short laugh, "Yeah."

...

With a loud and very obnoxious yawn, Atem fell back onto his bed. During their sparring session that afternoon, Yusei had certainly given him a run for his money, and Atem was feeling the repercussions of that now. There was a small annoying bruise sitting on his ribs where he'd been kicked, but he'd sooner take ten more of them than admit that it hurt. He could admit to himself though at least, Yusei was a damn good fighter. Only thing was, as Atem had noticed recently, it wasn't like the structured style that Atem had learnt from his father while growing up. It was quite different, in fact. Maybe Yusei had been taught by someone a little less conventional.

The man himself was currently sitting on his own bed, book in hand, completely lost in his own world. He also seemed to be pretty good at that, too; being lost in his head. Atem had encountered quite a few times where he needed to grab Yusei's attention from somewhere in the abyss of his mind. It only made him wonder what was going on in that world of his, for it must have been interesting.

Their attention was then brought to the door when Crow poked his head in after knocking a few times. Yusei looked up from his book, eyebrows raised in question.

"Hey guys," the red head greeted them, before jumping straight to his problem, "Have you messed with my arrows?"

The pair shared a confused look, before Atem looked back to Crow, "No, why would we?"

The man at the door looked somewhat conflicted, "There appears to be some missing, and I only left them in our room for an hour this afternoon. I suspect they've been stolen."

Yusei creased his eyebrows, "Why would someone want to steal your arrows?"

The man shrugged, "I don't know, a prank maybe...?" He shrugged, "Thanks anyway, I might go ask William next door..." The door clicked closed, and Atem turned to Yusei with a grin.

"Imagine someone called William being a huntsman," he said, "I doubt he'd like the phrase, 'fire at Will'."

Yusei shook his head, trying not to smile, "That's terrible."

"You're terrible," Atem retorted. "I'm funny, you just don't know it yet."

Yusei's book was now in his lap, "Well if that's all you've got, then you're not trying very hard."

Atem was about to start sulking, when the call for lights out echoed through their door. Atem pulled his blankets up while Yusei turned out the light, silently vowing to himself to come up with a pun that would make Yusei laugh. As the other man rolled over and pulled his blankets up, Atem thought back to the old joke book that he'd had since he was a kid. A grin instantly came to his face.

"Hey Yusei."

"Yeah?"

"What did the grape say when it got stepped on?"

A sigh. "What?"

"Nothing. But it let out a little whine."

There was a moment of silence. "Are you for real?"

Atem crossed his arms, "I'm funny, dammit."

Yusei still found himself smiling, "That is yet to be seen."

A matter of minutes passed as Atem thought of various puns, and voiced them all. Yusei hadn't laughed yet, but Atem could tell he was smiling. Surely these had to be terrible enough for a chuckle.

"You know what?" he said, causing Yusei to turn his head to look at him.

"You're not funny," was Yusei reply, but he continued with his joke anyway.

"People who say they suffer from constipation are full of shit."

A snort instantly sounded from the other side of the room, as Yusei tried to hold in a laugh.

Atem flung an arm out to point at him, "Ha! Got you!"

The noise from across the room then turned into sniggers. "It's not funny," Yusei managed, "It's terrible!"

Atem was grinning widely through the darkness, "But you're laughing, so I win." Though the room was dark, he could just see Yusei's hand covering his mouth as his eyes adjusted.

The only response he got after the other had calmed down was, "Go to sleep." With a resigned sigh, Atem rolled onto his back, pulling the covers up again. He waited until about a minute of silence passed, before speaking again.

"When I get naked in the bathroom, the shower gets turned on."

"Oh my fucking god," Yusei sounded like he was trying to hold in a chuckle. Atem burst into a fit of laughter, that seemed to last for a good 30 seconds, until a pillow landed on his face. Pulling it off of him with a splutter, Atem glared over at his partner in the darkness. "I fucking hate you," Yusei said. "Now give me back my pillow."

"Love you too, jerk ass."

It was a good ten minutes before the pair had calmed down again and settled themselves in, actually ready to sleep this time. Only thing was, even after half an hour had passed, Yusei was still wide awake. He could hear Atem's steady breathing from just across the room, the trees swaying outside from the breeze, even the clock ticking out in the hallway. He let out a heavy sigh as he rolled over to face his partner, who let out a yawn as he shifted in his own bed.

"Atem?" he whispered. "Are you awake?"

A hum came from the across the room as an answer, before the murmured reply, "What's up? Can't sleep?"

A sigh, "Yeah." Atem moved to say something else, but Yusei seemed to read his mind. "No more puns."

Atem let out a small laugh, "Damn."

There was a short silence, before Yusei spoke again. "What was your Dad like?" he murmured.

Atem was caught by surprise with the sudden question, but he thought for a moment. "Uh, well, as well as being a great huntsman, he was quite the intelligent man, and a great teacher. He was always driven by knowledge and finding out the logical answer to everything, partly the reason why he became a Hunstman I'm pretty sure. He wanted to know as much as he could about Grimm, and how to wipe them out. Because of that, though, whenever he wasn't fighting or teaching me, he seemed to be caught up in his head a lot, always thinking of theories and possible solutions for things. That seemed to frustrate my mother a lot, too." Yusei was lying on his side-Atem could see now that his eyes were adjusted-listening intently with unbroken curiosity. Atem then laughed, a memory reaching the front of his mind. "Actually, he had some...unconventional ways of dealing with things. I dated a guy last year, and when my mother saw him she said that Dad probably would have put him through an MBTI test."

Yusei chuckled at the idea of someone having to do a personality test for their boyfriend's father. "How long were you dating for?" he asked.

Atem looked at the ceiling as he tried to remember, "Oh, only about five months. He got drunk at a party and hooked up with some girl, and then lied to me about it. When I told my mother why I dumped him, she threatened to kick his ass," he laughed. Rolling back over to face his partner again, Atem asked, "What about you? What's your history?"

Yusei stretched his arms out behind his head, "I've never dated anyone," he admitted, "I hooked up with a girl in a movie theatre once, only she was a little...too keen."

Atem raised his eyebrows, "What, she wanted to get in your pants?"

"Pretty much," Yusei replied. "Luckily though, I was saved by the clerk kicking us out because we'd snuck in in the first place."

Atem laughed, as memories flowed through Yusei's mind. Days spent with an old friend, sharing mischievous grins and various other things. If he were to be honest with himself, those days weren't the brightest of his life, and certainly nothing to be proud of. He still had a lot of regrets, and a lot of things to fix, but he was working on it. Those days were long gone, and now here he was! A student at Beacon; one of the best Academies there was. Despite a few things, now he had reason to be proud of himself.

Especially since there was nobody else to be proud of him.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Pulling off his tie with a grateful sigh, Atem walked into his room, noticing how he'd beaten his partner back. It had been such a long and boring day, he couldn't wait to change out of his uniform and into his jeans. Just as Atem was pulling his shirt over his head, the door opened, and Yusei trudged in.

Shirt still halfway over his head, Atem nodded, "Sup." Unable to see a thing, he was met with silence, which confused him, so he couldn't possibly have anticipated the shove he received as Yusei pushed him back so that he fell onto his bed.

"Don't let your guard down," Yusei joked, as Atem waved his arms around, trying to pull the shirt over his head.

Yusei was still laughing when Atem managed to pull the shirt off and sit up on his bed, half heartedly glaring at his partner. "That was so lame."

Yusei grinned, pulling out his phone, "And so was this," he threw the device over to Atem, who upon seeing the screen, instantly grinned back. Atem had been sending Yusei selfies all day, in an attempt to thwart his boredom. Thankfully, it had worked.

"Come on," Atem said, throwing the phone back, "Who doesn't want to look at this gorgeous face?"

Yusei then laughed, as he pulled his clothes out of the set of drawers by his desk, before muttering, "Who indeed," as he ducked into the bathroom. Atem hadn't quite heard what he said, but shrugged anyway, as he changed into a pair of jeans and a sleeveless shirt. His leather vest and swords sat just by his bed, almost always within reach, just how he liked it. Similarly, Yusei had his arm guard sitting on his bedside table, along with the skeletal metal contraption that went with it. Atem was already setting up the gaming console when Yusei emerged from the bathroom, now having changed out of his school uniform. Atem threw a controller onto Yusei's bed, as the pair grinned at each other, before they both settled in front of the TV, sitting on pillows they'd pulled from their beds.

"We should make this a serious game," Atem announced as the screen loaded.

"How so? Do you want to bet on it?" Yusei asked, sending him a sidewards glance.

Atem was still grinning, "Hell yeah, whoever wins, gets...a request from the other, within reason of course."

Yusei thought about it for a moment, "So If I won, I could ask you to be my footrest for a whole week?"

Atem was trying not to laugh or moan, so instead, he rolled his eyes, "Sure."

So they started their game, eyes fixed on the screen in determination to win their prize. A few tense minutes passed as they played, shooting various things and bashing their controllers, before Atem's eyes went wide.

"What the hell was that?!" He exclaimed, staring at the screen in horror. Yusei answered innocently, saying he didn't know what Atem was talking about. "That's cheating!" The man wailed, still trying to keep up, shooting everything in his path.

"Is not."

"You _so_ cheated!" Atem shoved his shoulder into Yusei, who just grinned, before shoving him back.

"Did not!"

They continued like that for a minute or two, shoving each other to try and distract their opponent, until Atem tried to grab at Yusei's controller. Yusei responded by shoving Atem so hard he fell to the side, and the controller fell out of his hands. Now the man was seething.

"That's it!" Atem left his controller on the ground, and practically tackled Yusei into the carpet.

Their innocent game on the console had now turned into an all-out wrestling match, as they rolled around on the carpet, shoving each other's faces into the ground and trying to get an advantage so that the other would tap out. They'd had some just-for-fun grappling sessions in the training hall, but this took it to a whole other level. Mainly because of Atem's competitiveness, and Yusei's love of winding him up. Atem had managed to get Yusei into an arm bar, but he hadn't positioned his legs right, so the taller male was able to get out of it and swing himself up to pin Atem's legs beneath him, a forearm against his throat, and both wrists within one hand. Yusei was quite pleased with himself.

"I told you you weren't doing it right," he chided with a grin.

Atem glared up at him, "I fuckin hate you."

Yusei was still grinning, "Asshole."

"Douche."

"Jerk."

"Ass jerk."

Yusei laughed, "I think you mean jerk ass."

Atem was quite aware that his mind wasn't quite up to speed with his mouth, but he wasn't going to think that that had anything to do with the man currently hovering above him with his legs pinned to the floor, not at all. "Shut up ass jerk."

Now that they had calmed down a slight amount, Atem was actually taking note of their situation, and he could feel his palms starting to sweat.

_What the hell is wrong with me?_

Blue eyes stared down at him with triumph, and he tried to focus his mind on the task at hand: getting this asshole off of him. Atem tried to swing his legs up, but that endeavor seemed futile the minute he tried it, and after many failed attempts at struggling beneath Yusei's grasp, he gave up and glared.

Yusei was still grinning, as he moved closer to tease the man, "Give up yet?"

Now that did wonders for Atem's hormones. He could already feel the heat in his cheeks as he cursed himself silently. _What the fuck am I doing? _He then saw an opportunity, and smiled. Yusei's grin faltered only slightly, as Atem moved his head forwards, almost as far as he could manage with Yusei's forearm still against his throat. Blue eyes widened ever so slightly, and then he took his chance, and head butted him.

Yusei flew back up into a sitting position with a yelp, though still on top of Atem's legs, holding his forehead. "You sneaky bastard."

Atem moved up onto his elbows, "What part of that was sneaky?" He had noticed a strange expression cross Yusei's face just before he had head butted him, but Atem didn't know what it was, and didn't want to bother thinking about it. There were still a handful of things about Yusei that Atem didn't understand, and assumed he probably never will.

Finally, Yusei stood up, before holding a hand out to his partner, "You're all flushed," he noted. "Was it that much of a work out?"

Atem then instantly became very interested in the door, as he cast his gaze away. _At least he didn't notice anything a little further south. _Now Atem couldn't even look at his partner without fear of going even redder, this was embarrassing. _Well how am I supposed to keep a straight face with your gorgeous mug hovering over me? This isn't fair. Not one bit. _

"Atem?" The man sitting on the floor then realised that Yusei was still holding a hand out to him, and he cursed himself silently again, trying to keep his cool.

"I uh...it-yeah."

_Fuck. _

Luckily, Just as Yusei pulled him back up, the TV made a sound, causing them both to look back over at the screen. _'PLAYER 2 WINS' _it read. Atem looked over to the red controller, that sat a few feet away from them, right where Yusei had dropped it.

"Would you look at that," Yusei mused, looking at the screen. "Do I still get my request?" he asked, smirking.

Atem sighed, "Yeah, whatever." He did recall seeing them about even when he had tried to grab at Yusei's controller, so it seemed fair that the game had decided the win for them. "What do you want?" he asked.

Yusei thought for a moment, "I may need a while to mull over it, gotta think of something good."

Later on, Yusei had headed off to the library to get some study in, while Atem stayed at the dorm, brooding. So maybe his initial attraction to Yusei was no longer that simple, and that embarrassing display earlier probably proved it wasn't _just_ an attraction anymore, either. But unlike previous times when he'd found himself in a similar situation, this one was bugging him a lot more than usual. After a bit of thought, Atem decided to pull out his phone, finding the only person he could talk to about something like this.

The phone rung a few times before they picked up, "Hello?"

"Bec, I need help."

After the girl registered the man's voice, her tone turned sarcastic. "Hi little brother, I've been great, how are you?"

"Rebecca," Atem didn't really have the patience for this today, "I'm serious."

"And so am I!" Atem's sister replied, "What happened to 'I'll call you as soon as I'm settled in'?"

Atem did recall promising that he would call, but he still answered truthfully, "I know, I'm sorry, things have been a little hectic since starting, but I'm settled now, aren't I?"

"Yeah, whatever," she replied, "So what's your problem?"

Atem had to take a moment to think of how to explain said problem, "I uh...there's a guy."

His sister was suddenly the embodiment of excitement, "Hell yeah there's a guy!" she cheered, "It's been a while since you dumped whats his face, I was worried you'd given up on dating."

Atem was quick to correct her, "No, no, I mean there's a guy who's pretty much my best friend but I'm totally confused."

"Oh, right..." Bec calmed down again as she moved into councilor mode. "So who is he?"

Atem sighed, "He's my partner," a quick glance to the door as Atem heard team JACK leaving their room, and he lowered his voice. "His name is Yusei."

...

"So you've got a crush," Bec said lightly, "You've had crushes before, why are you so worked up about it?"

Atem had to restrain himself from rolling his eyes-despite the fact that she couldn't see it anyway. "Because this is different."

His sister let out a laugh, "Said every teenager ever."

So Rebecca wasn't really helping, and Atem already felt pretty pathetic, but he knew what he was talking about. "Shut up, I mean it. You'd consider me to be a pretty confident person, wouldn't you?"

Bec snorted, "I think confident is a slight understatement."

This was Atem's opening, "Yeah, well none of those other guys have ever made me so nervous, I made a complete fool of myself just before."

His sister laughed, "Okay, I'm not gonna ask details, but on a scale of one to ten, how embarrassing was it?"

Atem considered for a moment, _It could have been worse, _he reasoned, "Probably an eight."

Rebecca was back into councilor mode, "Well it's not the end of the world, you know how much of a ditz I am around someone I like." Atem couldn't help but laugh, he knew exactly what his sister was talking about. She was referring to a certain event that had happened while Atem was visiting, that neither of them would forget easily. "Has he responded to any of your...unintentional hints?"

Atem appreciated her way of saying his fucks ups, as he leaned back against the headboard of his bed, "I dunno, sometimes I think he's interested, and then other times he-"

Atem's sentence stopped dead when the door swung open, revealing his room mate and partner; the very person he was talking to his sister about.

"Yusei," startled, he spoke into the phone again, "That's great to hear Bec, alright I'll talk to you later!" And then the phone was about a meter away, at the end of the bed, where Atem had thrown it. He could feel his heart beating faster than usual from his initial panic, as he turned to give Yusei a fake smile.

"Everything alright?" the man asked as he walked in, dumping books on his desk. Atem's desk was a complete mess-Yusei had referred to it as a bomb site earlier-and so Atem found himself trying to think about that rather than what he was almost caught confessing.

"Yeah, yeah," Atem looked down to his phone that lit up as it buzzed. A message. "Just a call from my sister." He moved forwards to pick it up, now that his heartbeat had slowed down again.

Yusei lifted his eyebrows, "I didn't know you had a sister," he said, watching as Atem grabbed the phone again.

"She's only my half sister. Our Dad had a bit of a fling before he married my mother." Opening the message, Atem saw it was from Bec. Probably asking what the hell that just was.

_'What the hell was that?'_

Bingo. He moved to reply.

_'Sorry, Yusei came in. Scared the hell outta me.'_

"No way," Yusei seemed genuinely interested, "So she's older?"

Atem's phone buzzed again, and he replied to the message as he answered, "Yeah, by four years. She's lived with her mother all my life, but they've never been too far away."

Yusei let out a short laugh, "I wish I had a sister."

Atem laughed, remembering small things from his childhood, like when Bec had put a dolls dress on him and carted him around the park in a pram. "You don't want a sister." His phone buzzed again, and he looked at the message.

_'Mum says you're just like me.' _

_'In what way?' _Atem asked her. Judy-Rebecca's mother-had always loved Atem, he pretty much saw her as an Aunty. It certainly helped that her and his parents had always got along, as well. He doubted his mother would let him visit often if she didn't like the woman.

Yusei was still standing by his desk, watching Atem tap away on his phone. "And why's that?" he asked. Atem was about to answer, when he saw his sister's reply.

_'You fall too hard, too fast.'_

His eyes moved up to rest on his partner, who was still waiting an answer, but that thought was completely lost to Atem. All he could see were those striking blue eyes, the curve of his jaw, the shirt that clung a little too close to a broad chest. It was that thought that worried him the most, too. He _was_ too much like his sister. _God damn it. _

"Atem?"

The man snapped back to reality, once again feeling embarrassed for getting caught zoning out. "Sorry?"

Yusei looked a little confused, but also amused at the same time. "I said, why wouldn't I want a sister?"

Atem looked back down to his phone, the message still sitting on his screen. _Because they're always right._

_..._

The next week was pretty much like any other week, only Atem was much more aware of his and Yusei's every movement. He'd noticed how Yusei seemed to have opened up a lot more to other people since they started, no longer hiding in a shell during social situations. He also liked to tease Atem about as much as Atem teased him, but the man wasn't sure if it were just part of him being more comfortable around him or something else entirely.

Atem was pretty happy with himself though, his afternoon sparring sessions with Yusei were definitely helping, and there had even been times recently where Atem had given his partner pointers on something small, like things his father taught him about technique that Yusei hadn't seemed to pick up. Atem could happily recall their session a few days ago, which had definitely shown his progress.

_"Oof!" _

_Yusei stumbled back with a grunt, a hand flying to his gut, eyes wide. He then grinned, looking up to see his partner sporting an equally satisfied expression. "That hurt, well done." _

Atem had responded by laughing, before moving forwards to attack Yusei again. They were getting closer to being evenly matched now, though Yusei still seemed to have an insight of fighting that would come from experience rather than a teacher. Atem had been thinking he was quite well off, being the son of one of the best Huntsmen around, but now he wasn't so sure, seems he hadn't had that much of a chance to experiment. Despite this, Atem was sure that if they pulled their weapons out and used semblance it would certainly be quite a close match between him and Yusei, especially now that they knew each other a lot more.

As much as the pair loved to fight though, Beacon wasn't just about that. It was still school, and thus half of their subjects focused around academics. So while Yusei seemed to excel in combat, it seemed that History, Mathematics, and English weren't his strongest subjects, and Atem tried to help him out wherever he could. Yusei knew he would struggle with a few things at Beacon, but at least he was fine with the most important aspects.

It was on the floor of his dorm that Yusei found himself on Saturday evening, having pulled out an old memory that he'd always kept with him. It was an old dagger, with a small ruby in the handle, small enough to conceal easily, but big enough to cause decent damage.

_"Happy Birthday, Yusei." _

There it was, a voice he could barely remember. His memory from back then was very hazy, but he'd never forget those words, or what followed. He could barely believe it had been seven years. Seven whole years, and he'd come so far. Sure, he would probably be in a much better position if the last few years hadn't happened, but he tried not to dwell on it. The past was the past, and it was time for him to keep moving forward. He just had to keep his goals in front of him, and remember that he couldn't let _anyone-_

"Howdy stranger."

Yusei looked up in surprise, to see his partner standing by the door. He glanced down at his father's dagger for a moment, before putting it back in the drawer. "What's up?"

Atem was smiling, obviously trying not to grin. "Well, a little birdy told me it's your Birthday."

Closing the drawer, Yusei rolled his eyes, "Oh really? And who would that birdy have been?" He was quite curious to know how Atem had found _that_ out. He'd never even mentioned his Birthday, nor did anyone else know accept-

"I happened to spy it on Godwin's class role," Atem grinned. That would explain it. Atem nodded his head out the door. "Come on, I wanna show you something."

Not quite sure what to expect, Yusei stood and followed him out the door. They walked through the corridors and up various flights of stairs, into a part of Beacon that Yusei hadn't ventured yet-the Academy was incredibly big-until finally they reached a door. Pushing it open, Atem lead him out onto the roof, surrounded by an low iron fence and overlooking the grounds. Vale was also visible in the distance, and Yusei had to stop to take it all in.

"I know you said that you get homesick pretty easily," Atem explained, walking towards the railing, "And we've been here for a few months now. But when I found this, I had to show you." He gestured Yusei over by the railing, and the man slowly moved over, as Atem pointed out past Vale. "You can see the lights of Patch from here."

Yusei remembered telling Atem that he was from Patch, and as he stared out from the rooftop, a smile formed on his lips. "So you can."

Atem shrugged, suddenly feeling very lame, "I guess I just wanted to show you it's not all that far away. Not much of a Birthday present, but I uh, only found out this afternoon so-"

"It's great," Yusei cut him off, noticing that he was babbling. "Thank you, I really appreciate it."

The smile on his face was enough to make Atem's stomach start doing flips. He leaned forwards on the fence. _No, not now, _he begged. _I can't make a fool out of myself now. _He could feel his nerves running rampant, and his palms were already sweating, so he leant his elbows on the railing instead, as Yusei did the same. _Why? Why can't this be like any other stupid crush where I can be sarcastic and flirty and make them all nervous? _He turned to look at Yusei, and found the man already watching him, a curious look on his face.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

All Atem could think of was how now they stood at the same height, both leaning forwards on the railing. "Yeah, yeah. Fine."

Blue eyes narrowed ever so slightly, "Are you sure? You look...uneasy." He could see the concern in Yusei's expression, and made himself smile again.

"Must have been that chicken we had at dinner," he explained lamely, before looking back out over the city, glad for the cool air that blew on his face. _Alright, this is absolutely ridiculous. I'm Atem Muran, I'm supposed to be cocky and confident, not some nervous mess because some guy smiled at me. _Then again, it wasn't _just _some guy. _No, no, I am supposed to always be confident. So confident I could just-_

Atem hadn't even let himself finish that thought, as he leant forwards and captured Yusei's lips. The man had instantly stiffened, but only a moment later, he seemed to relax, eyes falling shut as they kissed on the rooftop. Atem could feel an unbelievable warmth spreading through his chest, as he reached out to rest his hand on Yusei's.

It was then that reality seemed to crash down on Yusei like a ton of bricks. He suddenly jerked back from Atem, gasping for breath as he gripped the iron railing for dear life. Despite the fact that his heart was racing and his mind whirling, he still hadn't missed the look of hurt cross Atem's face.

Atem could feel dread slowly seeping into his veins at the horrified look on his partner's face. He carefully stepped forwards, "Yusei?"

"I-" Yusei's eyes darted to the door, and Atem watched his chest rise and fall rapidly. "I'm sorry, I can't do this."

Atem was already reaching a hand out when Yusei turned and all but ran to the door, disappearing before he even reached it. Atem could feel his heart thudding in his chest, hear the sound of students talking in the distance, but all he could see was the horror on Yusei's face when he had pulled away.

Pressing his eyes shut, Atem swung around and kicked the bottom of the iron fence, "Idiot!" He cursed himself. How could he have let his pride get the better of him? Now Yusei was gone and all that was left was the memory of his lips. That's what Atem hated, too. He'd finally found out what it was like to kiss Yusei, and it had been wonderful for the few seconds that it lasted. But then he'd jerked away, taking all chances of it being a pleasant moment with him. He'd rather have never kissed him at all. It was like being shown a whole banquet and then being told you could only have dinner rolls. Being given a taste of something and then have it torn away, one of the cruelest things Atem could think of.

That's what confused Atem now, too. Yusei had kissed him _back. _But then he'd suddenly pulled away and ran off. There was obviously something Atem was missing here, but he doubted he would get answers soon. So he hung his head, and cursed himself over and over, for being such a stupid, confident idiot.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Once Atem was done brooding on the rooftop, it was almost time for lights out, so he took a deep breath, and made his way back down to the dorms. He didn't know what would await him when he got there, and he dreaded having to face Yusei after such a bold move. Terrified as he was though, he was a Muran, and that meant he always faced his problems, or tried to. His father had taught him to face things head on, and that's what he was going to do. The door to their room came into view; Atem could feel the lump in his throat, and he could almost feel the tension flowing out of the room. Why did he have to try and be confident?

Taking a deep breath, he pushed the door open, and stared. The room was completely void of any other person; his partner wasn't there. Looking to the clock on his bedside table, he saw there was ten minutes until lights out. Wherever Yusei was, he was sure to return soon, and so Atem decided that perhaps he didn't want to face his problems tonight, so he climbed into bed. If he pretended to already be asleep when Yusei got back, well, that sounded like a much better idea than the awkwardness that could happen otherwise.

Soon enough, the call for lights out echoed through his door, and Atem flicked off the lamp beside his bed, confused. He had been sure that Yusei wouldn't stay out past nine o'clock, for anyone who was would be in strife. He figured Yusei was probably on his way back now, so Atem sat in his bed and waited, but as half an hour passed, there was still no sign of him. Worry began to gnaw at his bones, so Atem walked to the door and carefully opened it, peering into the hall. Where was he? Atem was past pretending to be asleep, he wanted to know where Yusei was and why he hadn't returned, awkwardness be damned.

Unfortunately, Atem could hear the voices of the professors who patrolled the halls at night, so if he left the corridor he was sure to be caught. Biting his lip, he resolved to sit by the door, looking up and down the hallway, waiting for his partner to return.

.

All the man was listening to was his own ragged breathing and the sound of leaves crunching beneath his feet as he tore through the Emerald Forest, blade activated on his arm guard as the Ursa roared behind him. Then, he took his opportunity, swinging around a tree and charging back towards it, slicing into the Grimm's flesh, assaulting the beast with every attack in his repertoire. After a matter of seconds the once mighty beast lay at his feet, and Yusei stared down at it. He didn't let himself stop for long though, and soon he was off again, all of his senses peaked as he ran through the forest, looking for more Grimm to fight. Anything to stop himself from facing the events of that god damned rooftop.

When Yusei couldn't find any more Grimm in the vicinity, he stopped to catch his breath, before leaping up into a tree, finding his way to the top with ease. He was then looking out over the forest from his position, seeing the moon shining bright over Remnant; the only thing that seemed constant to him.

Yusei didn't know where he had gone wrong. He was supposed to get into Beacon, become a Hunstman, and forget everything about the past few years. He knew he would be paired up, given a team, have to work with other people. He knew that there would be people he had to get along with, but his plan was to coast through, do what he had to, and leave with no strings attached.

Then he had met Atem.

He didn't even know how he had gotten so close to the teen without meaning to, and now he was stuck. There was only one person that Yusei had ever really cared about, and that had ended badly for both of them. He hadn't had another best friend, or a friend at all, since then. But Atem had been so easy to get along with since day one. While all the other people made Yusei nervous to be around, Atem had made him more comfortable, always taking the lead so that there was less pressure on him. Yusei remembered Atem noting right at the start how he seemed to back off in social situations, and so maybe he'd done it on purpose.

He suddenly slammed the side of his fist into the nearest branch. _Stop thinking about him. _

Determined to find more distractions in the form of a challenge, he looked out over the forest. Yusei's eyesight wasn't all that bad at night, and so it didn't take him long to spot the boarbatusk running in his direction. _Perfect. _The Grimm were drawn to him-they always were-and this forest was filled with them. As Yusei swung down from the tree with his blade activated, eyes set on the Grimm just ahead, he tried to clear his head of all thoughts, but one.

_I can't let my guard down again. _

.

It had been another fifteen minutes, and there was still no sign of Yusei. Atem didn't know what to do. Even if he did risk getting caught out of his dorm, where would he start to look? He had no options, all he could do was wait. He then yawned, and stretched out his arms, accidentally bumping into the wall in the process. He quickly drew his arm back, but he couldn't hear the professors patrolling the halls anymore; perhaps they had gone to the upper level. Letting out a sigh, he went back to his routine from before. Looking to his right, biting his lip, and then down to the left. A few seconds later, he blinked in surprise as the door across form him opened.

A redhead curiously peeked out, and eyebrows raised when he saw the man on the floor, sitting against the wall. "Atem?" he whispered, confused. He looked behind him quickly, before moving out into the corridor, closing the door behind him. "What are you doing out here?"

The man shrugged, "Sitting."

Crow quickly noticed the tense set of his shoulders and guilty look on his face. "Everything alright?"

Atem looked back down the hall again, letting out a sigh, "I dunno," he responded.

Crow began to look concerned, "Do you want to talk about it?" He took a quick glance towards the door, which sat shut, and Atem guessed that Crow probably thought the opposite of what was actually going on.

Atem shook his head, "Not really. Don't worry about it."

The other man hesitated for a moment, before letting out a short sigh, "Alright," he said, turning back to his own door, "Just don't stay up too late, alright?"

Atem nodded, "Sure thing." As soon as the door across from him was closed again, he dropped his head. _Yusei, where are you? _

...

The moon continued to light the Emerald forest with its steady glow, as Yusei gripped the trunk of a tree, trying to catch his breath. He didn't know how long he'd been out here for, but it felt like hours, and his body was feeling it. He ached all over, but he didn't want to stop, not yet. He was taught at a young age that you could push yourself as far as you can go, and then a little further. You could always go that little bit further. Despite the fact that it was a cool night, he was covered in sweat, and his shirt clung to him, though not just from perspiration. There was a damp patch from a wound in his side, though he had determined that it wasn't that big of deal, and his gloves and arm guard were covered in the blood of many Grimm. He pushed aside the hair stuck to his face, before pushing off of the tree; he could hear more Grimm coming. That was the twist with fighting them: they were drawn to negativity, and once you drew a few in, that would attract more.

So he kept fighting, ragged breaths being torn from his throat as he slashed out at each beast, his movements becoming more sloppy and slow as he went. He always dreaded the point where he couldn't keep going, but he knew it was coming. Soon enough, he was thrown backwards by a beowolf, skidding across the ground and stopping at the base of a tree. He gasped for air, heart slamming in his chest-if only he had the adrenaline from before. Lifting his head up, he could feel the slight trickle of blood on his cheek, after scraping across rocks and twigs on the ground. The Beowolf growled menacingly as it towered over him, while Yusei's limbs ached in protest as he tried to move. Even if he had been able to get to his feet in time, there was no way he could have dodged the beast as it swiped at him.

Pulling all the strength he had left, Yusei pressed his eyes shut and threw up his semblance. His entire body grew tense as he anticipated the attack, but it never came. Carefully looking up, he saw that the Beowolf had stopped, obviously confused as to why its prey had disappeared. Finally, after a moment it turned and headed off, in search of another. When it was out of sight, Yusei let out a groan, finally letting his walls down. He fell onto his back, more exhausted than he'd ever been, as muscles ached and wounds stung. That last attempt to survive had completely drained him, and he stayed there on the ground for a few minutes, until he heard more Grimm coming. After procrastinating for as long as he could, Yusei painfully pulled himself to his feet, and climbed up into the tree, deciding he should probably head back.

It was almost half an hour later when Yusei was pulling himself through the window into his dorm, which was several stories off of the ground. He was trying to be as quiet as possible-waking Atem up was the worst possible thing he could think of right now. As soon as his feet were planted on the floor, he made a bee-line for the bathroom, shutting the door behind him with a click. As soon as his reflection was lit up by the light overhead, Yusei's eyebrows creased. He looked worse than usual. Almost his entire body was covered in dirt, sweat, and blood. Not all of it was his thankfully, but it didn't make the sight any better.

Soon, Yusei had managed to clean up most of the blood, though his jacket and shirt were another story. Standing shirtless in front of the mirror, he was patting his side with a damp cloth, trying not to wince. He never liked looking at himself while changing, there were too many scars, too many markings on his skin that he hated. There was a time where he stood proud and tall with his shirt hanging open, but that was years ago. Now it was replaced with shame.

Finally deciding he was finished, Yusei poked his head out the bathroom door, and stared. He hadn't even looked over at Atem's bed when he came in, and now he realised it was empty. Having already dressed in clean clothes, he stepped out, confused. Weary eyes took in the room as he padded over to the door. Atem had seemingly been in his bed at one point, as the sheets were pulled back, unlike when they had both left the dorm hours ago. Yusei tried not to think about what had happened before, as he poked his head out the door.

There, sitting against the wall in the hallway, was Atem. Head dropped to the side, he was breathing evenly, having completely fallen asleep there. Yusei felt a pull at his heartstrings that he could barely ignore; Atem had been waiting for him. He sighed as he looked back into their room, he couldn't just leave the guy there, or he'd have a terrible crick in his neck by the morning. After tapping his hands against his legs in procrastination for a minute or so, he relented, and knelt down to carefully place his arms around the man. Just as he was sliding one arm around Atem's back, the man groaned softly. Yusei froze, staring at the face that was only centimeters away, until he was sure that Atem was still asleep. Quickly and carefully, he then lifted his partner into his arms, trying to focus on being quiet, rather than the smell of his hair.

After Yusei had placed Atem back in his bed, the man had curled up around the blankets, a deep crease in his forehead. Yusei knew he should have just turned away, but he couldn't help himself, he simply stared. He was so used to seeing the bright grin on his partner's face, and now all he could see was the hurt expression he wore the minute Yusei had pulled away from him.

Yusei threw his hands into the air, turning around for a moment; if he'd been alone he would have yelled. _Stop it, _he kept thinking to himself. Despite those forced thoughts though, he cast another glance over his shoulder. Atem looked as if he were having quite the unpleasant dream. Eyes softening, Yusei didn't even realise that he was pulling off one of his gloves, until he was reaching out towards Atem's face. Upon seeing the back of his hand however, he thought better of it, and quickly drew away, before retreating into the bathroom once more. If he wanted to look presentable in a few hours, he better get started now.

...

Morning sun shone bright onto Atem's face, as he rolled over to try and avoid it. He didn't want to wake up yet. Especially after his stupid decision last night-

Memory finally coming back to him, Atem opened his eyes in confusion. He was lying in his bed, only he couldn't remember how he got there. The last thing he did remember was sitting outside his door waiting for Yusei.

Yusei.

Eyes darting over to his partner's bed, Atem's heart sank. It was completely untouched. He then noticed that the bathroom door was closed, and he jumped out of bed, hope in the corners of his mind. Without a second thought, he knocked on the door.

"Yusei?"

The man in the bathroom was suddenly startled awake at the call of his name. Blinking at his surroundings, he realised he'd fallen asleep just as Atem had the previous night; sitting against a wall, and _boy_ did his neck hurt. The call then came again, and Yusei was suddenly on his feet, scrambling around for his bloody jacket and shirt. Upon hearing the commotion in the bathroom, Atem became aggravated at being ignored.

"Yusei, what the hell are you doing?" All Atem could hear was the sound of things being thrown around, and he clenched his teeth. "That's it, I'm coming in!"

Yusei's heart leapt into his throat, and he had only just managed to clamber out the window by the time that Atem forced the door open. Staring at the empty bathroom, Atem groaned in frustration, before looking to the open window. "Really?" He marched over and peered outside, but didn't see his room mate clambering down the tree. Letting out a deep sigh, Atem turned back around, gripping the bridge of his nose as eyes fell shut for a moment.

"Why did I have to be so fucking stupid?" he muttered, dropping his hand back to his side. He was about to walk out again, when he noticed the garments shoved in the corner. It was Yusei's jacket, and his shirt. As Atem moved over and picked them up, he noticed they were covered in red stains, and smelt very metallic. Blood.

An uneasy feeling was creeping into his gut, as he then noticed the toilet paper and rags covered in blood, that had been thrown in the bin. The basin was also stained red in certain places. _What was Yusei doing last night...? _

Just outside, hanging onto the bottom of the window, Yusei was holding his breath. He knew very well that he was being a coward, but he couldn't face Atem yet. Not until he had pulled himself together again, and didn't feel like his limbs were going to fall off.

...

During the next week, Atem barely saw Yusei at all. He was always back at the dorm after Atem had fallen asleep, and out the door again before he woke the next morning. The only way Atem knew he'd been there at all was that Yusei's bed sheets had been moved, and there was a different book missing from his shelf each morning. On Sunday, after his partner had escaped out the bathroom window, Atem had spent the day training, by himself. His mind was full of confusion, concern, and frustration, and he managed to take it out on every practice dummy that the Academy had to offer. He'd also almost yelled at Crow when the redhead spotted him, asking why it looked like he was trying to decapitate the thing with his fist.

What was making him the most frustrated though, was not knowing what on earth was going on. On Monday when they had classes, Yusei was always the last to show, ducking in to sit as far away from Atem and team JACK as possible. Despite the fact that he could never get close enough to Yusei to talk to him, Atem could barely miss how he was favoring one side, perhaps the reason for all the blood in the bathroom. Desperate for answers, Atem had tried to chase him out of class, but he either used his semblance or was out of sight fast enough for the man to lose him. Atem searched for Yusei every day afterwards, trying to find where he was hiding, but there was no sign of him. By Wednesday afternoon, he'd given up, and found himself sitting in the music room again, mindlessly fiddling on the piano. He was playing bits and pieces from a song he remembered, it was another one he quite enjoyed to play, though it was a little harder than the one he played for Yusei. He'd run through it a few times, playing wrong notes as he tried to remember, until he managed to play the chorus all the way through properly.

While beating the crap out of a dummy was a good way to let out his frustration, playing the piano was a good way to relax a little-apart from when he hit wrong notes and got annoyed at himself. He'd managed to string together a few sections so that he could play it properly, and was pleased that he could remember the song now. He began to play it again from the start, the notes flowing out of him much easier now. He remembered when he'd finally mastered this song and shown it to his father, who gave him a proud nod and a pat on the back. Playing the piano seemed to give Atem a lot of nostalgia, various songs taking him back to different times in his childhood. Times when his house was filled with music and laughter, the smell of muffins wafting from the kitchen as Atem played, and then scooping one up off the tray and guessing how many Grimm his father had killed on his mission.

Atem could remember one night very clearly, however, the one time he never found out how many Grimm were killed. Atem had stayed up, waiting to tell his father how well he did in his combat class that day, until it almost reached midnight and his mother forced him to go to bed. They'd been told by a brief message that the mission was taking longer than expected, but Atem hadn't missed the look of worry on his mother's face, as he closed the bedroom door. His gut was telling him that something was wrong though, so he stayed awake, listening through the door, until he heard a knock a few hours later. It was early morning by then, and as his mother stood to answer the door, Atem was peeking down the hallway, just in time to see the look of dread dawn on her face. He could see the man standing on their doorstep, a fellow huntsman, holding out the red bandana to his mother, and Atem sank to the floor.

Atem quickly glanced at the bandana that was always tied around his left arm. He was reaching near to the end of the song, with a variation of the chorus, and he started to hit a few wrong notes. Becoming slightly annoyed, he went back and played it again, only to screw up even more. After a few minutes of trying and quiet cursing, he slammed his hands on the piano, and stalked out, memories flowing through his mind that he'd much rather forget.

Standing in a small alcove just outside the music room, Yusei watched him walk back down the hallway, his jaw set tight. He'd heard the music floating down the corridor, and happily listened as Atem played through the song. He could still imagine those scarred hands smoothly running across keys, just like they had a week ago. He suddenly felt an itch to sit on that stool himself. Once completely sure that Atem was far gone, he padded into the music room, seating himself in front of the piano.

Yusei regarded the keys for a moment before he figured out where he was supposed to play the song that Atem taught him. He pressed some of the keys one after the other, slowly remembering the melody. It was a light and happy melody, and now he wished that Atem had taught him the left hand as well, though Yusei still thought he wasn't quite coordinated enough. As he played through the short song, he remembered how it sounded with Atem playing along, as they sat shoulder to shoulder. Yusei liked remembering that afternoon, as their off course adventure turned into something a lot more enjoyable. He could still see himself standing by the piano, staring down in awe as his partner played through the beautiful song.

This time it was Yusei's turn to slam his hands on the piano. _Stop thinking about him. _

It had been a constant battle within his mind ever since Saturday night, and Yusei was not being very successful. Frustrated with himself, he stood once more, deciding to bury his head in a book as he did every afternoon. It may not be the best way to avoid the situation, but it was always a good escape for a few hours, losing himself to the worlds of fictional characters.

By the time Yusei was making his way back to the dorm, it was after their curfew-as usual. Luckily, he could use his semblance to get away with it, though every day he was feeling more and more tired. Eyelids were drooping by the time Yusei was poking his head in the door, but brows lifted once seeing his partner. The nights had been getting warmer, and while Atem usually slept in a singlet and sweat pants, he seemed to have decided that just his underwear would do. Yusei carefully closed the door as he tried not to look at the left side of the room, where Atem was sprawled on his stomach across the sheets, showing off the smooth skin of his back and thighs that Yusei was very jealous of.

His usual nausea was rolling around in his gut as Yusei flopped onto his own bed, not bothering to shower tonight. Despite the fact that his head was heavy with the need of sleep, his mind was still a tangled mess that would not shut up. He knew he wouldn't be able to keep this up forever; avoiding Atem for just over three and a half years was not possible. Especially when the person you're avoiding just happens to be your partner. He didn't want to come this far only to drop out after a few months, either, so he was stuck.

Yusei groaned as he rolled over to bury his head in the pillow, hoping that sleep would relieve his thoughts for a while. Unfortunately though, the images that rolled behind closed eyelids were no form of relief whatsoever.


	8. Chapter 8

**_Chapter 8_**

_Yusei stood in the bathroom, looking into the mirror. He couldn't remember why he was in there or what he was doing, but as an irritation made itself known on his shoulder, he pulled his jacket aside to scratch at it. He could see the marks on his skin, taunting him like they did every day. He began to scratch some more, pulling his jacket off to reach more skin, but the marks remained. He couldn't figure out why, but he continued to drag nails across his shoulder, collarbone, chest, over every mark he could find, leaving a sting as irritated skin turned red. He hadn't even realised that he had taken his shirt off as he stood in front of the mirror, scratching at his abdomen, skin burning red. He gritted his teeth as he dug his nails in more, but no matter what he did, they didn't go away. _

_He suddenly stopped, feeling his heart start to beat faster in his chest, as he noticed something. He knew there were marks on his neck, leading up into his hairline, but he was sure they didn't go _that_ far up his neck. He turned his head to the side, eyes going wide as he pushed his hair aside. The marks were spreading. Suddenly, they weren't only on his neck, as they now lead up to his jaw. Yusei began to panic, turning his head again as dread filled him, they were covering his face! _

_His chest felt tight as he gripped the basin, staring wide eyed at himself in the mirror. _No, this can't be happening. No, no no!

Atem was suddenly startled awake by the sound of someone yelling. He burst his eyes open to see Yusei sitting up in his bed, gripping his chest like a lifeline as ragged breaths tore from lips. Atem's mind suddenly exploded with thoughts, first on actually having Yusei within a few feet of him in almost a week, and then the concern he felt upon seeing Yusei's terrified expression.

The other man could feel his heart thumping in his chest as he tried to calm himself down, but upon noticing his partner sitting up in his own bed, Yusei's chest felt even tighter.

Atem's eyebrows were drawn together, "Yusei-"

His partner held up a hand, avoiding looking at him, "Don't." _Calm down Yusei, there's nothing to- _

Atem was already pulling his covers back, "But I just want to he-"

Yusei gripped the edge of the bed as he spun to face away from Atem, planting his feet on the ground, "You can't." His entire body felt both hot and cold at the same time, as sweat began to form on his brow. _No not now, _he begged, _please not now. Everything's fi-_

Atem was then on his feet, "Yusei-"

"SHUT UP!"

Atem stared at his partner, who was standing facing him now, wide eyed and chest heaving. He brought a trembling hand to his mouth, "I-" he swallowed with some difficulty, "I'm sorry." In a flash, he had disappeared into the bathroom. Atem stared at the closed door, jaw hanging open. He'd barely been able to take everything in. Yusei had looked disheveled, had bags under his eyes and a distinct cut on his cheek. But he had also been acting in a way that Atem had never seen before. This couldn't be what he thought it was, could it? He'd been breathing heavily, had sweat on his forehead, and his hand was trembling, all while having an extreme look of panic in his eyes. This couldn't just be a coincidence.

Atem had seen it all before, and he bit his lip, quickly moving over to the door. "Yusei?" he said, speaking softer than before, though he knew he would not get an answer.

On the other side of the door, Yusei had slid down to the floor, burying his head in his knees. _I can't do this, _he thought, _why did I think I could do this?_

"Yusei, please talk to me," Atem all but begged through the door, hand pressed flat against it. He was trying to think of ways to convince the man to open the door, though he knew the chance was slim.

Yusei took in the longest breath he could, "Leave...me." Having Atem there was making this so much worse, though Yusei didn't want to listen to the part of him that suggested he could also make it better. No, he could never think rationally when this was happening. He just needed to be alone.

Atem's hand moved into a fist where it sat on the door. He didn't know what he could do, Yusei was just so god damned stubborn. With much effort, Atem stepped away from the door, murmuring, "Fine."

Yusei relaxed ever so slightly as he heard Atem's bed squeak, the man falling back on top of it, gritting his teeth. Atem could still hear Yusei's breathing on the other side of the door, and he lay there, completely silent, watching the bathroom. A few minutes passed, and finally he seemed to calm down. Atem heard a thump, as the door rattled ever so slightly. Yusei had dropped his head back against it. Biting his lip, Atem began to speak.

"I don't care about what happened on Saturday," he said, now sitting up on his bed. "I understand it was a really stupid idea and I'm really sorry that I ruined your Birthday, but I'd rather forget it ever happened."

Yusei closed his eyes, _You didn't ruin it, _he thought, _I did. _

Atem continued to talk, "I'll be completely honest, this week has been pretty shitty without you around." He stood then, moving back over to the door. "I just...want to go back to how things were before." Reaching the door, he placed his hand against it once more, he felt like he was talking to a brick wall, or a door for that matter. "Yusei, can't you just tell me what's going on so this can all stop?"

There was silence once again. Atem was preparing to bang on the door just to get a noise from his partner, when Yusei finally replied.

"I can't. I'm sorry."

Atem dropped his head, hand still on the door. He shook his head, "I'm sorry too."

...

By the time Friday rolled around, Yusei was dreading his last class. So far, during Weapons and Combat, he hadn't needed to work with Atem for anything, though from what Mina had told them in their last class, today was going to be completely different.

On Wednesday night when Yusei had finally emerged from the bathroom, Atem had been lying in his bed, back to the door. Though despite his steady breathing, the man had known that he was still awake. Yusei knew that Atem was a very outspoken person, and after all of that, now he was choosing to stay quiet. That thought alone had bothered him, despite the fact that he was glad to finally be left alone.

Pushing the doors open to the training hall, Yusei spotted where Atem and team JACK were sitting in the stands, and moved to the other side. Even if he had to work with his partner during the class, he wanted to hold it off for as long as possible. He could see Crow trying to talk to Atem as he walked across the floor, as the pair glanced down to him. Quickly averting his gaze, Yusei looked to the floor, as he climbed the stairs and took his seat.

Crow was still looking at Atem's partner, "So he's been avoiding you all week?"

The man beside him was becoming annoyed, the whole week Crow had been pestering him for answers. Sure, the guy was simply concerned for his friends, but Atem just didn't want to talk about it. He was only answering now to get the guy off of his back. He knew Crow was just trying to help out, but Atem's current mood was not in a position to accept that.

_Wait a minute...could that be...how Yusei feels? _

Every chance Atem had gotten that week, he'd been pestering his partner. Sure, he certainly deserved answers, but if Yusei felt the same way as Atem did right now...

Yusei must have had a damn good reason for avoiding him, though, and Atem needed to find out why.

Crow suddenly clicked his fingers in front of Atem's face, "Hello? Remnant to Atem?" Blinking, he looked back to the red head, barely noticing he'd been staring at Yusei. The man asked his question again, and Atem nodded, sounding over the subject already.

"Yes, he's been avoiding me all week," he answered, lowering his voice. He didn't want their whole class to know about his problems.

"But why?" Aki then nudged Crow with her elbow, as Mina and Ushio began to address them. They was explaining that today they were going to split into their teams to form a simulation of a typical rescue mission.

"As Huntsmen and Huntresses, you will need to respond to distress signals, so we've set up a little scenario for you," Mina explained.

Crow leaned over to whisper to Atem, "Why is he avoiding you?"

Atem rolled his eyes, "Because I'm a fucking idiot, okay?"

Ushio explained that out in the Emerald Forest, they had placed a distress beacon for each team, which would emulate the same signal sent by their scrolls. They had to find the beacons, and bring them back.

"Each team will be timed, every beacon is as difficult to find as the other, and probably in a dangerous area. Your mission starts...now."

All the students suddenly stood up and banded into their teams, as Atem bit his lip. He followed team JACK as they made their way out of the stand, and Crow hung back to ask him one more question.

"You're not making any sense," he was saying, voice hushed ever so slightly, "Why do you think you're an idiot?"

Scores of students were walking past, as Atem stopped in his tracks, jaw clenched. "Because I kissed Yusei!" Crow had stopped as well, staring wide eyed at the man. "Alright? That's why he's avoiding me, that's why I'm an idiot, and that's why I'm probably going to fail this mission." He then saw the familiar blue jacket walk past, and he sighed, turning to follow, "I'll see you later..."

Atem hadn't specifically said to keep that bit of information a secret, but the look in his eyes sure did. Despite the fact that Crow was the centre of gossip, he decided this was probably something to keep to himself. So he ran after his team, as they all went out to the Emerald Forest, in search of the distress beacons.

Atem and Yusei were both looking straight ahead as they ran side by side, the teams slowly spreading out as they neared the cliffs. It was painfully silent, and Atem wasn't surprised when he was the first to speak. He had looked down at his scroll, seeing the location of the beacon.

"It's in the South-West of the forest. Best if we head around the cliffs a bit further before going in." Yusei simply nodded, as the pair ran along the edge of the cliff, watching teams jumping down, similar to their initiation. Now that it was daylight, Atem could clearly see the cut on Yusei's cheek, and a bruise on his jaw that was slowly turning a yellow-brown colour. He wanted to demand answers from the man, about what was going on, why he was avoiding him and what the hell he was doing on Saturday night. Despite his thirst for the truth though, they had a job to do, and he didn't want to make this mission any harder than it already was.

Tense minutes passed as they leapt into the forest, trying to keep an eye out for any Grimm as they headed towards the beacon. Once deep in the forest, Yusei was amazed that Atem hadn't tried to bug him yet. Maybe he'd finally given up. It was a nice thought, yet a sad one at the same time. He sighed as they began to slow down, catching their breath so they were ready when they need to fight. _I should never have come to Beacon. _

Atem looked at his scroll again, "We've got about a hundred meters left, though I don't know what we're going to find when we get there."

Yusei was chewing the inside of his cheek, pretending to be interested in the trees. Atem let out an annoyed sound, shoving the scroll back in his pocket. With Crows pestering this morning, and now this, Atem's patience was very slim. "Will you at least look at me?!"

Yusei almost jumped at Atem's outburst, as he finally turned to look at raging crimson eyes. "I-" he forced himself to take a deep breath. "Sorry."

Atem threw his hands into the air, "Holy shit, he speaks! I was beginning to think I was invisible." Atem had turned around to head towards the beacon, and Yusei stood there for a moment, biting his lip. A partner demanding answers was one thing, but an angry one was another. He decided he didn't like Atem when he was angry-it was moderately scary-so he followed, trying to think of a way to resolve the situation before it turned into an all out argument.

He stayed silent for a bit as they kept moving, honing in on the distress beacon rather quickly. What could he say? What Atem wanted to hear definitely wasn't on the cards, and Yusei was never all that good with people when it came to things like this. After a matter of minutes, Yusei opened his mouth. "I...don't really know what to say." He could feel his cheeks turning red from how silly he sounded, but he hoped it was something.

This apparently wasn't the best thing _to_ say. Atem turned to him for a second, though kept walking. He was clearly aggravated. "You don't know? Alright let me help you, how about you start with why you've been avoiding me all week?"

Yusei could feel nausea creeping into his gut. Thank goodness he was used to it, though that didn't make it any easier to deal with. He looked at his scroll while trying to think of a response. They were almost at their destination.

"That's what I thought," Atem continued. "So with my brilliant deducting skills," he was sounding very sarcastic now, "This is all I can think of..." The forest had begun to thicken, as Atem hacked away at shrubbery with a sword. "You disappeared on Saturday night. What happened on Saturday night? I kissed you." Yusei was quite surprised with how straight forward Atem was being, but he supposed the man had always been like that. He began to chew the inside of his cheek again. "So yeah, I get that was a stupid idea, but at least I'm not a fucking _coward. _Why else would you run away and avoid me for the rest of the week?"

Yusei had stopped for a moment, as Atem continued to hack his way through the shrubbery. Okay, so that was true, but it still hurt. He closed his eyes for a moment, before pushing forwards again, catching up to his partner. "Atem, it's not...you." How the hell could he explain this without giving anything away?

Atem snorted, "Yeah, said every teenager ever." It wasn't until after he said it that he realised he sounded so much like his sister.

Yusei sighed, "Atem, I'm serious." This would be a lot easier if he didn't care. But that was his own damn fault for letting his guard down in the first place. If he'd kept to his original plan, they wouldn't be having this conversation right now. He pushed branches aside as he continued to follow his partner. "It's not...I don't..." he could barely start a sentence. "I'm..." He spoke his sentence slowly, as if thinking up the words as he was saying them, "...not the kind of person you want to associate yourself with."

Atem stopped, turning around to face him. The anger in his eyes had dissipated ever so slightly. "What are you talking about?" He was beyond confused now. "Yusei, you're my partner, I'm going to be 'associated' with you for a few more years, if you didn't know that already."

Yusei was fiddling with his arm guard, moving the fingers on his left hand so that different modes were activated one by one. "Well, yeah, but-um..."

Atem sighed, turning back around to continue hacking at the shrubbery. "You're not very good at talking to people, are you?"

Yusei looked at the ground as he followed, "I thought you knew that already." There was silence for a moment, before he spoke again, "You've always been really easy to talk to, though."

Atem finally got through to a small clearing, as he pushed the last few branches out of the way. "Yeah, until it gets to something you don't want to talk about." Yusei stayed silent as they examined the clearing. It seemed all too silent here, actually. Atem wanted to get to the bottom of this first. He turned back around, staring his partner dead in the eye. "Yusei, what is this really about?"

The taller man bit his lip, as his nausea increased, making him want to grab onto a tree for support. His problem was that he cared _too_ much, and now he was going to ruin himself because of it. _Well, it's not like this hasn't happened before. _Taking a deep breath, he answered, "I'm not the kind of person you think I am, alright?"

Atem raised his eyebrows in confusion, "Then what kind of person do you think I think you are?" Yusei could hear a sound nearby, probably a Grimm coming to attack them.

Listening to the sound carefully, Yusei's face went blank. "Someone like you." Atem's eyes widened in confusion, but Yusei just looked straight behind him. "You may want to step to your right."

Seconds later, a growl tore through the trees as an Ursa burst into the clearing, and Yusei pulled his arm back, before flinging it across his body, the arm guard shooting a handful of small sharp objects. Atem stared wide eyed as a few sunk into the Ursa's eyes, the others in its fur. Atem was then suddenly pulling his other sword out as he darted forwards, slashing at its side so that it roared in anger. Yusei was then swinging in on his wire, as he delivered the finishing blow with his blade. The Ursa fell to the ground as Yusei landed back on his feet, eyes darting in all directions.

"Boarbatusk to your left!" He then announced, before turning in the opposite direction to face a Beowolf that had just appeared. Atem stared in confusion, just as he was rammed in the side by a Grimm. _A Boarbatusk...? _He skidded to the ground, before leaping to his feet, swords raised in a challenge. _How did Yusei know that? _The boarbatusk growled at him, before charging, and Atem took a page out of Yusei's book, jumping out of the way instead of trying to hold it off. As the Grimm tried to turn around, he drove his sword into its side, the beast shrieking in protest. The dead Ursa had already disappeared, and as Atem turned to look around for more, he saw Yusei, still fighting the Beowolf, as he tried to dodge its swipes. Looking around wildly, he then noticed a light blinking up in one of the trees.

"Yusei! The distress beacon!" he called out, pointing to it. Yusei was by far better at climbing trees, so Atem charged in at the Beowolf, distracting it for long enough so that Yusei could head for the beacon. This wolf was huge, he realised, staring up at it as it growled at him. It took a swipe at him, and Atem dodged it, before spinning his sword around and swiping it across the bones on it's arm with the handle. The bones shattered as Atem's semblance flowed through the sword, revealing more flesh for him to slice. The beast was then swiping at him with its other arm, and he only just had enough time to spin his sword around so that it ran the length of his arm, his usual defending move. It hit the sword and struggled against it, before Atem swung it back around, slicing off the Beowolf's arm in the process.

He took a quick glance over his shoulder. Yusei had just jumped down from the tree, holding the flashing beacon in his hand. He was about to turn and finish of the Beowolf, when another Grimm caught his eye.

"Yusei, look out!" he called out, but not quite in time. He didn't even get to see what happened because the Beowolf threw him backwards, and he heard Yusei cry out. Lifting himself off of the ground, Atem saw the Nevermore as its claws sunk into Yusei's shoulder, blood welling around them almost instantly. He then looked to the Beowolf that was charging at him, and Atem clenched his fist, before picking up his sword once more.

"Come and get it!" He growled, very aware that his partner was crying out in pain as the Nevermore tried to lift him off of the ground. The Beowolf charged at Atem, and he darted forwards, driving his swords into it, along with his semblance. The Beowolf howled as Atem wrenched his swords back out, and it fell to the ground. He didn't even spare a look at it, and was then darting over to Yusei as the Nevermore dragged him across the ground. Yusei had tried to swipe at it with his arm guard, but the very shoulder that the Nevermore had sunk its claws in was the one his blade was on, and every movement-whether his or the Nvermore's-was incredibly painful.

The next thing he knew, the bird screeched, as Atem killed it with one blow. It fell to the ground, head no longer attached to its body, and Yusei fell to his knees, gripping his right arm as tight as he could without hurting his shoulder more. Atem stared at Yusei as he breathed heavily, moving over to his partner. "Yusei, are you al-"

Atem's sentence stopped dead as he looked at Yusei's wound. His jacket was torn open at the shoulder, and Atem could see three deep lacerations where the Nevermore had sunk its claws, that had dragged back across skin when Atem killed it. Blood was welling in the wounds, staining his jacket and running down his sleeve, over Yusei's left hand where it was holding his arm.

But that wasn't what Atem was staring at. Where Yusei's jacket had torn, it hung down the side of his arm, revealing the bloody skin beneath, and Atem could see very distinct marks covering the exposed skin. They were the rosettes of a Leopard.

"You're...you're a Faunus..."


End file.
